Posted on 08/13/2008 2:00:35 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Up to 12.3 billion bushels of corn are expected to be harvested this season in the U.S., despite the recent Mississippi flooding which inundated many farms in the Midwest.
With 600 million extra bushels for the summer harvest, it will be the second-highest corn yield on record, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Prior to the confirmation of the bountiful harvest, there were fears the Midwest flooding could lead to food shortages and major economic losses for American farmers.
Before perfect weather was enjoyed by farmers recently, corn future prices rose to $8 per bushel. On Tuesday, it was at $5.28 after falling for several weeks.
The highest corn harvest recorded was in 2004 at 160.4 bushels per acre, while this year it was 155 bushels.
At the same time, the government placed soybean harvest at 2.97 billion bushels, down by 30 million bushels from previous forecasts. Like corn prices, soybean futures had declined to $12.14 a bushel by Tuesday. Just over a month ago, soybean futures went over $16 a bushel.
Demand for corn and soybeans have gone up in recent years both as feedstock for biofuel production and kitchen consumption.
You mean that the market works??? The farmers have an incentive to plant as many acres as possible..Even to the point of clearing hunting land....sux for me but puts money in the economy!
No Food For Fuel bump!
The corn is the tallest that I’ve ever seen it here in Connecticut.
Is it possible to have a second planting of corn in one season? A nearby farm has corn that’s only 2 feet tall, without any signs of stress. Either he planted really late, or he’s on a second crop.
Good. Will meat prices follow?
Are farmers getting cash from taxpayers for their corn crops?
Not to be insulting, but you don’t know much about corn.
No second crop is possible on field corn. With sweet corn it is possible, but probably not likely in CT. 2’ corn is probably sorgum.
All talk of “corn” refers to #2 field corn. Not popcorn and not sweetcorn.
The breadbasket of the U.S. looks like crap this year due to all of the rain. I just drove through it.
Grain farmers don't collect subsidies, because you can't subsist on them. Out of area land owners collect them as a government subsidy to purchase recreational land.
Big Ethanol is getting subsidies which allow them to buy up more corn.
I found this:
Top programs in the United States, 2007:
Rank ___ Program ___ Number of Recipients __ 2007 Subsidy Total 2007
1 _____ Direct Payment - Corn __ 755,358 ___ $2,048,116,614
Sorghum; is usually the second crop planted after the wheat cutting here in Texas. Harvested July/August down here and then back to planting wheat in September.
Statistics like this are worthless. A formal reporting revision is
now required that distinguishes between approved, edible corn and
corn that is bioengineered for ethanol production, which is not ap-
roved for human consumption. There is no current reporting on the
new division of corn production into ethanol corn and corn for human
consumption.
Not up here. FIL planted 230 acres in corn this season. There are 700 acres of soybean around my little farm.
Somebody’s making money at $5.00+ and $12.00+ a bushel!
The biggest share of field corn—>50% goes for livestock feed.
“Grain farmers don’t collect subsidies, “
Yes they do, some years huge amounts of money.
I will be surprised if the yield is that good. There was a large amount of late corn planted and a cool and rainy Fall could dramatically affect the harvest.
It should be a good year for many farmers and I have to add they still have the right to market the fruits of their labor for ETOH if they wish to. Seems there are several comments suggesting farmers should have no right to market their fruits as they see fit, including ETOH production. I never imagined a movement would arise here to vilify farmers and suggest they should have the freedom to market their products. Perhaps I overstate the movement originating here—the petroleum interests are certainly behind killing ETOH too.
Thanks for the info.
No I don’t know much about corn.
Thanks for the figure on livestock consumption. Does anyone know the amount of corn produced not intended (ethanol corn) for human or livestock consumption?
The USDA has them. Sorry I can't provide a link, but in my scanning around for info on corn crop sizes, I ran across exactly such information. It specifically broke out the corn used for ethanol production as a separate line item.
No they don't. Retired farmers, hobbiests, and out of state land owners collect subsidies.
A farmer, by definition farms for a living. Take a look at the subsidies and you will see that CRP pays about $30/acre max, usually less.
For $3000/acre land that is a 1% return on investment or about 1.5% less than inflation, and 7% less than the interest cost of purchasing the land. It is also a $15,0000 a year pay out on 500 acres minus the cost of mowing (but not haying) the land.
Tell me, would you purchase a $1.5 million business and then accept $15,000 a year from the government to not produce anything, but still have to complete maintenance?
Subsidies only hurt real farmers by subsidizing people who wouldn't farm the land to begin with.
Check my last post. I’m not saying that the gov. doesn’t pay out huge subsidies, I’m saying that they go to people who wouldn’t be farming the land anyway.
Good news for ethanol producers, not so good for humans.
If you like $4/gal, Thank Congress in Nov.
PRay for W and Our Troops
Really? Do you have any idea what the input costs are?
When I read reports like this, it is amazing. What we can do with our crops in this country must seem like magic to 90% of the rest of humanity.
Our yield of corn is “down to” 155 bushels an acre this year. 155 bushels of corn is 8,680 lbs of corn harvested per 70 yard square section of farmland.
In Africa, most places get between 25 to 40 bushels of corn per acre. Even if they pushed to 50 bushels, using traditional farming methods, that is still just one third of our production during a down year.
Imagine, just in feed corn, going from a country where you can produce just 9 ounces of corn per square acre in a great year to going to a country that produces 29 ounces of corn in a bad year.
We are blessed in this country that men have had the freedom and stability to apply themselves to the study of agriculture to the point that we are producing three times what could normally be expected to most people around the world.
“The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.” ~ John F. Kennedy
“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” ~ General Dwight D. Eisenhower
“A farmer is always going to be rich next year.” ~ Philemon
“I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman’s cares.” ~ President George Washington
Sure, I do. My FIL planted that 230 acres of corn himself this spring. He locked in early and got a great price on seed corn in January. He’s 75 next month. Trust me, he makes money on it, but the real money is made in the potted trees we sell in the spring, which I help sell. The key to all farming profits is diversification and Dad is a genius. He’s a retired Engineer from IBM; he knows how to make money and how to make things work.
We are totally small potatoes, but our family has grown and sold everything from trees to strawberries to raspberries to chickens (roasters and layers for eggs; Husband had 200 at one time, I now have 50 layers and people beg for more eggs!) to cattle to vegetables to pigs. We used to sell raspberries wholesale to Whole Foods. Ever picked raspberries 10 hours a day for weeks on end? LOL! I’m betting you wouldn’t last ten minutes...but strawberries are much worse. I was doing a “Happy Dance” when Dad killed off that acreage and planted trees!
And the 700 acres of soybean have “Old Man Sweeney” (who owns that land and gets a cut of the profits) dancing in the street this season; I talked to him yesterday.
FIL is kicking himself for not planting soybean this year, though. But, what are ya gonna do? It’s always something! ;)
Our farm is less than five miles from my in-laws; when there’s work to be done on either farm, everyone pitches in; that’s just what we do and how we live. And Life Is Good, Baby! :)
Amen to that! See my posts 26 & 27. :)
Price support payments go to the acre of land.
Do the math. What is the capital expenditure vs. return? Even at $5 / $12 bushel, grain farming is a low return - high risk business.
I’ve found that the key for most people who make “a lot of money” in farming, is that they had the land given to them. Thus making 1-2% on ivestment looks like a windfall.
I grew up farming 800 acres and a windfall it ain’t.
Yes, a “windfall” it is not. None of our land was given to us. The “old” farm is paid for, but ours is not...yet!
But this is the life we have, and this is the life we LOVE, so we make the best of it. I grew up on concrete. I’ll kiss the Earth and bless her each and every day that I’m able to from here on out. :)
Yes, people farm because they love it and can’t imagine doing anything else, but I’ve seen knee high beans stripped to the ground by hail, corn turn white in 100 degree heat, and ground too muddy to till or put a combine on. Its a hard life when its the sole family income, and that demands a lot out of a person.
I for one am thrilled to see grain prices rise above their 1950’s level. Given the capital investments and risk involved, I still think they are only about 50% of what they should be to justify farming as a business.
I do and it cost me about $150/acre (fertilizer, seed, chemicals) and this is not counting land and equipment costs. US agriculture, the best in the world, has suddenly become the target of a smear campaign because they want to make a profit and market the fruits of their labor without interference from squeeling consumers. Oil interests have a huge role in the smearing tricks.
Just talked to my dad. He said the cheapest seed corn he can now find is $300 a bag and fertilizer is $200/ton.
At $5 a bushel, I’d love to run the numbers on replanting last year’s corn as seed and accepting the 80 bushel an acre yield. At the least I think I’d run a test plot.
Of course all soybeans appear to be proprietary now and cannot legally be replanted.
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