Corn, debt and doubt: A record harvest rattles Trump’s farm economy

Reuters.com ^ | October 25, 20255:00 AM CDT | P.J. Huffstutter

[Farmerbob]

Weren’t cattle farmers just complaining about high feed costs? There you go.

[Sacajaweau]

feed our beef corn....and get those herds up.

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

--- "...battered by debt...."

This is the same theme played out across companies, governments and more. Take on debt, become unable to pay it back, and presto! Crisis.

Lean years and fat years is an old story. Save up, don't load up with debt. Never load up with debt.

[ridesthemiles]

TOO MUCH IS GROWN FOR ETHANOL, IMO

[escapefromboston]

Well that would make too much sense

[Governor Dinwiddie]

If we spray Agent Orange on Asian rice paddies, it will increase the demand for American corn.

[Sacajaweau]

I agree...

I think as we open up the fossil fuels again and windmills and solar farms go out of business, we can revert back to corn for food...and only food.

[jjotto]

https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/corn-as-cattle-feed-vs-human-food.html

...corn grain typically does not make up a large portion of cattle diets until the end of their life cycle in a period called “finishing,” when cattle are often housed in a feedlot...

...once the entire lifetime feed intake of cattle is accounted for (meaning all the feed they consume from birth to harvest), corn accounts for only approximately 7 percent of the animal’s diet. The other 93 percent of the animal’s lifetime diet will consist largely of feed that is inedible to humans...

[Jamestown1630]

I agree. It has always seemed wrong to me to use a food as fuel.

[Sacajaweau]

They were talking about the cattle problem on an ag show this morning...very good....will take a couple years to get the herd numbers up.

So in the meantime, I can see where Trump is coming from....and that he is concerned with our pocketbook.

Cuz Biden and the Dems surely didn't give a damn.

[PrairieLady2]

I totally agree with that! When I can get alcohol-free gas, I do. Consequently, my milage improves by 6-9 mph. Alcohol in gas is a farce. Iowa grows a lot of corn intended for gas.

[rexthecat]

I try to always pay extra for non-ethanol gasoline. It’s too bad we got hooked on using our corn for fuel, it really isn’t that great for our vehicles.

[Sacajaweau]

I saw a 100 acre farm switch from common vegetable like beans, ....totally....to corn because they opened a plant nearby to turn it into fuel. It’s why beans are $2.00/lb....which is insane.

[Karl Spooner]

.

[escapefromboston]

I understand ranchers being upset but we are at a 74 year low in terms of cattle. I think it might take awhile to get those numbers back up

[crz]

Boy o boy. All the keyboard experts that havent even stepped foot onto a farm.

$2500.00 per 30 acres clear. Thats the profit for soybeans-2024. This year its ZERO, for many farms.
How many of you keyboard experts can live on...lets say a farm 5 times more than 30 acres. 150 acres..thats 12,500 wages for the year. Lets double that. 25 grand. Out of that you pay ALL OF YOUR PERSONAL EXPENSES.

Got some real “smart” jackasses on this site.

[Sacajaweau]

They Cattle people said two years. In the meantime...we’ll do a little importing to take care of our immediate needs.

[BatGuano]

Reuters.com? Mmmm.

[tired&retired]

I amazed at the increase in corn per acre over the years.

From 1866, the first year USDA began to publish corn yield estimates, through about 1936, yields of open-pollinated corn varieties in the U.S. were fairly stagnant and only averaged about 26 bu/ac.

We are now at about 180 bu/ac.

Some speculated that a third “miracle” of corn grain yield improvement would occur with the advent and rapid adoption of transgenic hybrid traits (insect resistance, herbicide resistance) by U.S. corn farmers beginning in the mid-1990’s. In fact, a number of seed industry ‘experts’ confidently promised that average US corn grain yield would approach 300 bushels per acre by 2030 due to these advances in biotechnology.