It may be cheaper to be a vegetarian this year.

Farmers will plant less corn and more soybeans and wheat this spring, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.

Less corn will only bolster already-high prices as demand to produce ethanol continues to grow. Nearly a third of the corn crop is used to make ethanol.

And that will have a ripple effect throughout the food chain, particularly on meat. Corn, the biggest American crop, is also used by beef and pork producers as feed for their livestock.

Corn plantings are forecast to decline 8 percent from 2007, to 86 million acres. Even with strong prices, farmers are shifting acreage away from corn because fertilizer costs have risen sharply. Corn is more costly to plant than soybeans or wheat.

The U.S.D.A. said, "Despite the decrease, corn acreage is expected to remain at historically high levels as the corn-price outlook remains strong, due in part to the continued expansion in ethanol production."

Soybean plantings are expected to increase 18 percent from last year, but 1 percent below the record acreage in 2006. Wheat plantings are forecast to rise 6 percent.