As their planting season progressed, Maryland farmers altered earlier plans and seeded less corn and more soybeans than they originally intended.
In March, farmers announced plans to plant 490,000 acres of corn this year. That would have been a decline of 9.26 percent from the 2007 planting, the largest in 15 years.
That thinking changed, however, when diesel fuel used to power their big rigs began creeping closer to $5 a gallon, fertilizer costs went through the roof and rains limited their days in the field.
According to the latest survey by the Maryland office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Statistics Service, only 480,000 acres of corn were actually planted this year.
Last year's big corn crop - 540,000 acres - was driven by the demand for the crop in the production of ethanol, which boosted prices.
Ethanol is a gasoline extender made from corn. The increased demand for corn boosted prices from about $2.50 a bushel in 2006 to $4 last year.
Last year, environmental groups, including officials with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Mid-Atlantic Water Quality Program, expressed their concerns that an increase in corn planting throughout the watershed could result in a significant amount of nitrogen and phosphorus going into the bay.
In Maryland, corn is the primary ingredient in the feed for dairy and beef cows, hogs and chickens. Corn is also made into a sweetener used in many products, including soft drinks.
Across the country, farmers planted 87.3 million acres of corn this year, according the USDA. That's down 7 percent from last year's planting.
Despite the decrease, acreage of planted corn is the second highest since 1946, behind last year's total of 93.6 million acres.
In contrast with the situation in Maryland, growers across the country planted 1.31 million more acres of corn than they said they would when surveyed by USDA officials in March.
Soybean acres in Maryland are up 18 percent from last year to 470,000 acres. Barbara Rater, head of the USDA's Maryland Agricultural Statistics office, said this was equal to the 2006 crop and was only 10,000 acres smaller than the record 480,000 acres planted in 1993.
State farmers also say they will harvest 215,000 acres of winter wheat and 45,000 acres of barley this year.
Summer potato farmers expect to harvest only 2,700 acres this year, down 10 percent from last year. The alfalfa crop is estimated at 45,000 acres, with another 160,000 acres of other types of hay.
