WMR - 2025 US Durum Acres expected to Hold Steady

By: Jim Peterson

Posted: May 1, 2025

The initial survey of US producers in March indicated that 2.015 million acres will be planted to durum in 2025. This is down 2 percent from 2.06 million in 2024. Many analysts had anticipated another year of higher planted area, due to the price premium of durum to HRS for the past few months. While North Dakota acres are expected to be up nearly 10 percent, acres in Montana, as well as in the Desert Durum region of Arizona and California were estimated lower by producers.

In North Dakota, durum acres were estimated at 1.19 million acres, up from 1.1 million in 2024, and 905,000 in 2023. Producers in non-traditional durum areas are anticipated to continue switching some HRS acres over to durum for a second consecutive year. In traditional durum areas, planted area may hold closer to steady with 2024 plantings, as lentils will compete for some of the acres in the northern areas, and sunflowers may compete for acres in more southern areas.

Montana durum acres, surprisingly, were shown to potentially decline nearly 15 percent, or more than 120,000 acres from 2024. The surveyed estimate was just 760,000 acres, down from 880,000 last year, but still higher than the 705,000 planted in 2023. Yields were sharply curtailed due to drought last year in the northern durum areas of Montana, and in many cases test weights were impacted. This limited the market returns on durum for producers in that region, narrowing the revenue gap with other crop alternatives. Lentil plantings are projected notably higher in Montana in 2025, due to price outlooks and crop insurance coverage levels, but also likely due to increasing pressures from the wheat stem sawfly on both hard red spring and durum crops.

In the Desert Durum region, planted area is expected to only be around 65,000 acres combined between Arizona and California. This is down from 84,000 last year, but slightly higher than the 56,000 planted in 2023. Producers in that region have lessened their interest in durum due to low market prices, increasing costs and declining allocations for irrigation water, and more attractive crop alternatives.