Ethanol to consume 30% of corn, USDA projects

Ethanol will consume more than 30% of the U.S. corn crop annually over the next decade, compared with current usage of about 20%, according to a 10-year government estimate of farm production and prices.

The area planted with corn will rise to 90 million acres by 2010, compared with 81.8 million acres last year, as U.S. farmers become suppliers of fuel as well as food, the Department of Agriculture said. Most ethanol made in the U.S. is made from corn.

The increased corn acreage will come at the expense of soybeans, as plantings of the oilseed will fall 9% to 69 million acres by 2009. Wheat acreage is expected to increase to 60 million acres next year from 57.3 million this year before falling to 58.5 million acres in 2010.

Cotton acreage is forecast to drop to 12.3 million acres in 2008 from the current 12.5 million.