The US Agriculture Department's 1999 prospective plantings report, scheduled for release at on Wednesday, should reflect this trend, most analysts agreed. Based on the average of a Reuters survey of 20 analysts, US soybean plantings in 1999 are projected at 74.18 million acres, up 2.5 per cent from 72.38 million in 1998. Planted US soybean acreage has risen for six consecutive years through 1998.

Planted corn acreage was estimated at 78.6 million acres, down 2 per cent from 80.19 million in 1998. The USDA report will reflect intentions as of March 1, 1999. The movement toward more soybean acres is driven in part by government loan rates that have favoured soybeans over corn and wheat in today's slumping price environment, analysts said.

"Generally speaking, we are going to see a setback in corn(acreage)," said Dan Zwicker, a market analyst for AgriVisor Services in Bloomington, Ill., whose firm estimated soybean acreage at 74.2 million. "There's no doubt beans are going to go up, probably at the expense of wheat."

Farmer input costs for chemicals and other items typically run about two to three times higher for corn than soybeans on a per-acre basis."The small farmer across the Corn Belt really doesn't want to put a lot of money into corn," said Steve Freed, director of research for ADM Investor Services in Chicago, who estimated soybean plantings at 75 million acres.Wheat acreage may decline for the 1999/2000 crop year. (Reuters)