A look at what farmers plan to plant in 2026

By Sean Ellis

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation

POCATELLO – Idaho and U.S. farmers are plowing ahead with their normal planting intentions this year despite rising input costs, lower farm-level prices for their commodities and uncertainty in the Middle East.

According to USDA, Idaho farmers plan to plant 4.16 million acres of principal crops this year, about 2 percent more than they planted last year.

Principal crops include corn, potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, dry edible beans, chickpeas, sugar beets and canola, which are all grown in Idaho. They also include rice, soybeans, peanuts, sunflowers and cotton, which are not grown commercially in Idaho.

U.S. farmers plan to plant 310 million acres of principal crops, down less than half a percent from 2025, according to USDA’s annual Prospective Plantings report, which is the first official look at what U.S. farmers say they plan to plant in a given year.

The acreage estimates by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March with nearly 74,000 farm operators across the nation.

This year’s report, which was released March 31, shows that Idaho farmers plan to plant a little more wheat, barley, dry beans, canola and hay this year and fewer acres of corn, sugar beets and chickpeas.

NASS will release official potato acreage estimates for 2026 in late June. For the USDA Prospective Plantings report, NASS carried over the same amount of spud acres as 2025.

North American Potato Market News owner Ben Eborn estimates Idaho potato acres will decline by 15,000, or 5 percent, this year. If accurate, that means Idaho potato acres will fall from 315,000 last year to 300,000 this year.

Idaho potato acreage was also 315,000 in 2024 and hit 330,000 in 2023.

Idaho leads the nation in total potato production and Gem State farmers produce roughly a third of the nation’s spud crop each year.

In the April 2 edition of NAPMN, Eborn also estimates U.S. potato acreage will decline by 3 percent, from 902,000 acres in 2025 to 878,000 acres this year. U.S. spud acreage was 932,000 in 2024 and 966,000 in 2023.

“The largest acreage reduction is expected in Idaho, though we also expect the planted area to decline in several other states,” Eborn wrote.

“Growers across the country are extremely concerned about current market conditions, rising production costs, the lack of profitable alternative crops, the ability to obtain financing, increasing global competition, and limited irrigation water supplies,” Eborn wrote.

“In addition,” he added, “North American growers also have a huge supply of potatoes from the 2025 crop in storage.”

Teton farmer Dwight Little said Idaho farmers will shift their crop acres somewhat as they try to figure out which crop mix might be more profitable for their farm this year.

There are not a lot of attractive options, however, as farm-level prices for most crops are on the decrease, while overall input costs continue to hover near record levels.

“The shift (in acres) is to anywhere we might make some money,” Little said. “There isn’t much money in anything in agriculture right now, except livestock. Right now, it’s kind of dismal.”

Little plans to plant about the same amount of potatoes this year, a little more wheat and a little less barley.

Water availability, or lack thereof this year, will be a major factor in what crops Idaho farmers actually plant this year, he added.

Winter snowpack levels in most Idaho basins were low this year and water managers expect a tough water supply year for irrigators in 2026.

“Which crop’s going to use the least amount of water” will be one of the big deciding factors in Idaho farmers’ planting decisions this year, Little said. “Water’s definitely going to play a role.”

According to the USDA Prospective Plantings report, Idaho farmers plan to plant 380,000 acres of corn this year, down 12 percent from last year, and 158,000 acres of sugar beets, down 5 percent from 2025.

They also expect to plant 82,000 acres of chickpeas, down 16 percent from 2025.

Idaho farmers plan to plant 1.24 million acres of wheat, 2 percent more than last year, and 1.25 million acres of hay, up 9 percent compared with last year.

They also plan to plant 540,000 acres of barley, up 4 percent from last year, 100,000 acres of canola, a 22 percent increase compared with 2025, and 45,000 acres of dry beans, up 13 percent.