Tough year throughout the Midwest. Challenging occupation, farming...



It’s a tough decision that many of the Midwest’s farmers had to make this month: To plant, or not to plant.

James McCune’s corn fields Opens a New Window. in western Illinois are typically covered with rows of hardy, knee-high corn this time of year. Instead, in 2019, five of every six acres he farms sit unplanted, pockmarked with water and mud.

“It’s a disaster like I’ve never seen before,” McCune told FOX Business. “My neighbors didn’t get 90 percent of their corn planted.”

After non-stop rain plagued the region this spring – when corn farmers typically get seed in the ground – most have decided time is now too short and are choosing not to plant.

“(Farmers) are soldiers when it comes to planting corn,” McCune said. “They love doing it. A lot of people say they didn’t try hard enough. That’s a disservice to them.”

According to the USDA, only 83 percent of the corn crop is in the ground across the nation, at a time when it should all be done.

In the Midwest, the situation is harshest. In Ohio, only half of cornfields have been planted. In Indiana, it’s two-thirds. Illinois has reached just 73 percent.

These statistics come at a time when the USDA is also downgrading how much corn each planted acre will provide at harvest time.

The three-year average for U.S. corn production is 175.9 bushels per acre. For this crop, which many farmers put into wet, compacted fields, the current projection is 166, the lowest in years.

“We planted some stuff that was not pretty,” said corn farmer Rob Sharkey. “But I didn’t have a choice. We did not get conditions that were right for planting, so we went when we could. It’s ugly.”

Sharkey spoke to FOX Business at a gathering of fellow farmers in Deer Grove, Ill., a village of fewer than 100 people amid a sea of farmland in western Illinois, not far from the Iowa border. Farmers called the event a “prevent plant” party, a term which refers to the insurance they claim for acres that will go uncultivated.

Most in northern Illinois had to decide earlier this month what land would be planted, and which would get “prevent plant” claims.

Corn farmer Kevin Kennedy says more than half of his acres will sit fallow.

“It’s kind of like in the game of baseball. Sometimes you have to bunt,” he said to FOX Business. “You just figure out a way to get on base. Our insurance levels were high enough to pay our bills and to be there to play the game next year. And that’s why we did it.”

Analysts agree, with fewer acres planted and lower yields, the U.S. will produce less corn in the 2019/20 season than it has in recent harvests.

This has been bullish for the price of corn. Futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange started spiking in mid-May as it became clear the rains would play havoc with farmers.

“We get pockets of claims every year,” said Luke Sandrock of the Cornerstone Agency insurance company. “We have 1-2 percent of our clients (who typically file). This year, it’s over 90 percent, and so we’ve just never dealt with it on this size of a scale before.”

Many of the farmers at the gathering anticipate the number of unplanted acres to be higher than many commodity traders estimate – and that yields could go down further if weather is not ideal throughout the summer.

“(A farmer’s) life is making the best grain quality, the highest yields,” said Cutting Edge Consulting agronomist Jerry Hartsock. “And let’s face it – it’s not going to happen this year.”

Another important snapshot of the year’s crop will come June 28, when the USDA releases its annual acreage report, which directly surveys farmers. Hartsock, who travels the Midwest visiting farms, said traders and farmers alike will be watching it closely.

“I don’t think (traders) have a clue yet as to the millions of acres that will go unplanted,” he added. “We’re in for some crazy times in this marketplace.”



https://www.foxbusiness.com/ec...est-corn-farmer-usda

So... Less ethanol?

In-laws just got their corn planted less than a couple weeks ago, seven inches of rain took it all as well as much of the topsoil. The old saw that corn should be high as an elephant's eye by the Fourth of July ain't happening.

Raining all day today and into tomorrow.

with 50% less corn to sell , 25% of the corn /bean farmers will make pretty good money , especially when they get their government check.

quote:

Originally posted by sigalert:
So... Less ethanol?

Yep. Combined with Iran's shenanigans, this may not bode well for gas prices later this year.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by sigalert:
So... Less ethanol?

Yep. Combined with Iran's shenanigans, this may not bode well for gas prices later this year.

A price spike potential is looming...

https://www.foxbusiness.com/ec.../trump-ethanol-rules

Another big issue is the loss of revenue; the US exported $12.9 billion in corn products in 2018 which is 38.4% of total corn exports for the globe. The next closest country was Argentina at $4.3 billion.

http://www.worldstopexports.com/corn-exports-country/

Talked to a co-worker from Indiana last week. He said most farmers around him are only 30-40% planted.

How about this for a practical, common sense solution politicians will never consider. How about we simply pump and refine more oil and forego the addition of ethanol to gasoline until some point in the future where corn production rebounds to acceptable levels? Using a food item in gasoline production is stupid, but using it in fuel production when its in very short supply, whereby creating all sorts of other negative impacts to multiple markets, is insane.

quote:

Using a food item in gasoline production is stupid, but using it in fuel production when its in very short supply, whereby creating all sorts of other negative impacts to multiple markets, is insane.

Yep. But that makes too much sense.
I am not opposed to innovation and experimentation. If they want to try adding ethanol to gasoline, and there's a market for it... great! But to force it down our throats? It's just not right.

quote:

Originally posted by sigalert:
So... Less ethanol?

I'm more worried about this causing meat prices to skyrocket, that corn is used for feed and other things that is going to have a big ripple effect across the economy.

Nixing boutique fuels and streamlining refinery productions would be a good step forward, too.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by sigalert:
So... Less ethanol?

I'm more worried about this causing meat prices to skyrocket, that corn is used for feed and other things that is going to have a big ripple effect across the economy.

Originally being from Illinois, I should know. But can you use feed corn for ethanol?

On a related note, the extended winter rains here in CA wiped out the cherry harvest, all the pickers /packers are headed up to OR & WA for work.

They grow a lot of eating corn around here and by now it's usually half grown but it's been so rainy this past year+ and the fields so swampy that I realized that not a lot is growing this year.

I have a feeling good corn on the cob is going to be hard to find and expensive this year.

Me all this past year:

Things started drying up enough about 10 days ago for the area farmers to start getting their crops in and already I'm seeing corn shoots sticking out of the ground a good 2 inches. I guess there is something to say for these new corn hybrids as "knee high by the fourth of July" is certainly a possibility.

One of my cousins raises corn in NW Missouri. His fields have been flooded (again).

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by sigalert:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by sigalert:
So... Less ethanol?

I'm more worried about this causing meat prices to skyrocket, that corn is used for feed and other things that is going to have a big ripple effect across the economy.

Originally being from Illinois, I should know. But can you use feed corn for ethanol?

YES!

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
How about this for a practical, common sense solution politicians will never consider. How about we simply pump and refine more oil and forego the addition of ethanol to gasoline until some point in the future where corn production rebounds to acceptable levels? Using a food item in gasoline production is stupid, but using it in fuel production when its in very short supply, whereby creating all sorts of other negative impacts to multiple markets, is insane.

One stroke of the pen is all it takes and it's been done before (usually regionally though)

Brazil has had the ability many years to swing the percentage of ethanol in gasoline depending on the price of sugar cane and the price of crude oil.

Here in SE Wis. most of the fields are sitting untouched.