Early Call On Chicago

Corn Called Up 20-30c, Soy Dn 40-50c, Wheat Dn 5-10c.

U.S. farmers intend to plant 74.8 million acres of soybeans this spring, an 18 percent increase, lured by sky-high market prices, while cutting back by 8 percent on ethanol-darling corn, the government said on Monday.

The soybean crop could total 3.1 billion bushels, the third largest on record, and corn (maize) plantings of 86 million acres could yield 12.2 billion bushels, the No. 2 crop, based on the Agriculture Department's projected yields and the usual amount of shrinkage from plantings to harvested area.

Wheat plantings of 63.8 million acres, up 6 percent, could produce a crop of 2.3 billion bushels. USDA said cotton plantings would tumble by 13 percent, to 9.39 million acres, the smallest plantings since 1983.