Wichita ? Kansas farmers expect to plant 19.5 million acres with the state’s four major crops, up less than 1 percent from a year ago, Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service said Monday.

The agency’s prospective plantings report for wheat seeded in the fall of 2002 was unchanged from the December forecast but up 7 percent from the previous year.

This is the first time since 1999 that 10 million or more acres were seeded with wheat in Kansas, the service said. It is the largest acreage since 1998, when 10.7 million acres were seeded.

The March planting forecast said corn planting in Kansas was expected to total 3 million acres, down 8 percent from a year ago and the lowest acreage planted to corn since 1998.

Milo acreage at 3.7 million acres is down 3 percent from a year ago. It is still the third largest acreage since 1996.

Soybean planting is forecast to be 2.5 million acres, down 9 percent from last year.