For the third consecutive year, the discussion across the heart of the Midwest going into the 2018 crop year focuses on whether soybean plantings will overcome corn plantings.  

There was almost certainty it would occur last year, but the shift fell just short.  There was a big increase in soybean plantings in the western Corn Belt, especially in the Northern Plains, but weather and minor planting difficulties kept the shift to soybeans from being as large in other key growing areas.

But with the same production economics in place the industry has experienced the last three  years, the...