Archer Daniels Midland Company’s fiscal third-quarter earnings topped analysts’ expectations, and the giant agribusiness company said it was “encouraged” by forecasts for large U.S. crop plantings.

ADM, which operates many of the larger grain elevators in Hutchinson, reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of 399- million dollars, or 60-cents a share, down 31-percent from 578-million, or 86-cents a share, a year earlier beating analysts’ average forecast of 59-cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

ADM says it is encouraged by the number of acres planted to corn and expects the company to move ahead from the economic downturn.