We survived a devastating drought and even the end of the world in 2012, only to be thrown off the fiscal cliff at the start of 2013 while lawmakers stalled on a short term fix that would also include an extension of the current farm bill for nine months. Starting the new year off with this kind of uncertainty makes it hard to make predictions, but USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber gave it a try.

“Everyone’s anticipating a large amount of corn to be planted this year. No reason why we wouldn’t see similar levels to last year, if not a little higher,” said Glauber, who adds that he still expects to see lots of soybeans planted as well. Assuming “more return to normal yields” and similar plantings to 2012, “certainly would allow us to rebuild stocks in a hurry,” he said.

Of course, that is assuming more normal weather – which is exactly what everyone was expecting this time last year. Still Glauber is optimistic about farm income for 2013, even though he expects moderation in crop prices which should help livestock producers. “We’re still expecting strong prices for beef, pork, poultry and dairy and moderating feed prices should help a lot,” said Glauber.

Again – that is going on the assumption that the weather in 2013 has to be better than what it was in 2012. Normal would be good.