Posted on 05/27/2020 7:53:27 AM PDT by fluorescence
Corn farmers are throwing another government-backed Hail Mary this year, planting more of the crop than in 2019 even though prices are near the bottom of a six-year slump.
“They call it plant and pray,” said Al Kluis, a commodities broker in Wayzata. “What you want is a disaster in some other part of the Corn Belt or some other country.”
Favorable weather in April helped most Minnesota farmers get corn in the ground faster than last year, when a wet spring kept them out of some fields until June and some cornfields were never planted.
But despite all those problems, the 2019 crop yielded the sixth-largest harvest of all time. The U.S. Department of Agriculture now projects a record corn harvest in 2020.
“We have no problem producing the crop,” said Brian Thalmann, a farmer near Plato and past president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. “We’ve had seven years now of steadily increasing production, and we’ve never had that before.”
Demand can’t keep up with supply. Corn futures hovered around $3.15 per bushel last week, nearly a dollar less than a year ago.
Farmers came into the spring with a large inventory of corn in storage, and demand for the commodity has been hit on multiple fronts since the onset of coronavirus.
Ethanol plants have shuttered due to decisions by the Trump administration to exempt oil companies from ethanol standards and, more recently, the cratered demand for all types of fuel caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Ethanol production is running about 70% of capacity, Kluis said.
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Also, crop insurance, which is 60% taxpayer subsidized, sets guaranteed revenue for corn at $3.88 per bushel this year.
“Without crop insurance, there’s not a bank around that would loan any money to a farmer,” Thalmann said.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Well, it is an election year.
Must have tons of Popcorn when Joe picks Hillary as his VP ,LOL
Creating a surplus really isn’t that bad of an idea. When massive voter fraud brings in Biden and AOC’s green new deal, farmers won’t have the fuel to farm with.
Out of work people in the cities will be forced onto the farms to plant Michael Bloomberg style, not having the slightest idea what to do.
Then we get to follow in Rhodesia’s footsteps from being an overproducer to starving.
My corn is already past knee high! Well into the thigh area Grow corn! Grow!
I would guess less will be used for ethanol. Time to do away with that and reinstate corn one of the most favored food on the planet....for man and animals.
Turn it into commercial alcohol and hand sanitizer...try to find a bottle of rubbing alcohol
Being done in many places. Ethanol along with glycerin from biodiesel production. Distributed more or less in bulk to institutions, and some places are using prisoners for smaller containers. Liquor distillers are making sanitizer too, some giving it away for free.
Corn Whiskey Corn Whiskey
Corn Whiskey I cry!!
If I don’t get Corn Whiskey
I surely will die!!
Better than hand sanitizer or adding to your gas tank!!!
I had a neighbor that would look at whatever commodity sold for the highest price last year and plant that this year, just like everybody else. Then he would complain about the low prices he got.
I gave up asking him why he didn’t try to go contrarian and try a different plan after being reminded repeatedly how many years he, his father, grandfather had been farming.
Corn ethanol has always been little more than a subsidy for corn farmers and large ethanol producers who have a powerful lobbying presence in Washington and make large campaign contributions to corn state members of Congress. Ethanol as a motor fuel is a giant boondoggle. Ethanol has considerably less energy as a fuel than gasoline. Blended with gasoline ethanol reduces mileage and causes havoc with many types of internal combustion engines. I have long thought the ethanol business will go bust without government subsidies.
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