US farmers on verge of giant corn harvest

Associated Press ^ | Sep 16, 2009 | Michael J. Crumb

[decimon]

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The giant crop is good news for farmers and livestock producers, who should benefit from lower feed costs, but it probably won't make a big difference to the cost of groceries.

Although corn is a key ingredient in countless products, from Coke to corn flakes, most of a product's cost is tied to labor and transportation...

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[decimon]

Big Maize maze.

Weren't we recently hearing that increased demand for corn (much to do with ethanol) was driving up the price of foodstuffs?

[avacado]

"US farmers on verge of giant corn harvest"

An abundance of CO2 in the atmosphere will do that for crops.

[Red Badger]

I'm amaized............

[STONEWALLS]

...Labor day weekend I went on a dove shoot over a corn field..on one test acre they did 232 bushels...the highest ever for that family farm...and they’ve been working that ground for 3 generations.

[Obadiah]

Funny how that works, huh.

[GonzoGOP]

Lets be honest the reason is that the Mid West had a very mild summer, with lots of rain (i only had to water the grass three times this year), but few of the damaging thunder storms that flatten crops and flood fields. Extremely hot days can stunt corn growth by killing off the tassels. We didn't have those hot days. It is harder to imagine a better growing year than the one we had here, and as such corn is the only thing in Illinois growing faster than government corruption. But mentioning the great growing weather does tend to hammer the Global Warming crowd, so that won't come up.

[Bean Counter]

Pinging the “Homemade Corn Squeezins” *ping* list!!

Please PM me if you want on or off of this LOW volume *ping* list...

[Lazamataz]

I don't LIKE giant corn.

[ozark hilljilly]

Earlier this year they were predicting a horrible season for corn. Reckon them thar experts don't know everything. Unless they're wrong about the harvest, too...jeez, a person don't know what or who to believe nowadays in the new Obamaland.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Wife's cousins are getting their machinery ready for a 1200 acre, three to four week enduro in SW Iowa. They'll be in the field by Oct 1 if the crop is dry.
The Minnesota crop is reported to be wet.

[tiki]

The cost of fuel was driving the cost of foodstuffs.

What you are going to get now is a lot more broke farmers. It is like this, prices of feed went up caused partly by the cost of fuel and then later by the intent to use corn for ethanol. Dairies and animal feeders had to cover those higher costs and feed their animals, they slowly started losing money but the prices were up, when prices came down, they started bleeding money and many are going belly up.

Now farmers who have hay, milo, corn, and soybeans for feed are going to have a hard time selling their products, even at bargain basement prices. They will begin to go broke.

For the consumer, meat and milk is relatively cheap right now but when there are fewer dairies and feeders there are fewer commodities to be sold and the price will rise again.

We will lose more small farmers and have less food security.

It is a normal cycle, it is why we only have around 3 million farmers with probably only 1 million growing the majority of the food.

I see 2 scenarios that could happen, a handful of mega-farm conglomerates like ADM who rule America or starving Americans like in Zimbabwe.

If we get Cap and Trade, only rich corporations will be able to afford all the new regulations.

[decimon]

I don't LIKE giant corn.

Dude, that's most of your posts. ;-)

[Balding_Eagle]

See my tagline. It’s been true for more than 50 years.

Government programs encourage overproduction and have kept the American farmer poor.

[STONEWALLS]

....and BTW, I’ve lived in Iowa before when a big corn crop came in...it stimulates all kinds of economic activity...grain elevators/cafes/trucking/fuel&lube/spare parts/equipment dealers/mechanics/welders/railroads/barge traffic and sadly, even hospital ER visits....it’s quite a thing to see....nobody can produce like the American farmer.

[Lazamataz]

No, I said CORN, not PORN.