‘Big-bushel speculators’ have leveraged December corn futures bids to a basis position seen only twice in the last 20 years, according to grain marketing economists.
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As spring planting continues at a rapid pace, farmers are reminded to report their 2006 planted crops to the local Farm Service Agencyoffice as they complete spring planting, or no later than the June 30, 2006 final reporting date, according to Derryl McLaren, State Executive Director for the Iowa USDA Farm Service Agency.
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A variety of factors which have contributed to higher prices of gasoline have also pushed up costs of crop production, especially the costs of fertilizer and crop protectants, as well as the cost of fuel for tillage and crop cultivation.
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The cool sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean recently returned to normal and negated the potential La Nina conditions that sometimes bring drought to the Corn Belt, says Mike Palecki, Regional Climatologist at the Midwest Regional Climate Center (MRCC).
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The nation’s corn crop is nearly planted and the early outlook for production is quite favorable, despite some cool, wet conditions during the last two weeks in parts of the Corn Belt.
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National Corn Growers Association members and corn producers across the country are finishing planting the crop, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
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Ohio growers are likely to see soybean rust this year, says an Ohio State University Extension and research plant pathologist. But the question remains whether the disease will show up early enough to have any impact on the crop.
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Since arriving in the United States in late 2004, soybean rust has dominated agricultural news.
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Total soil erosion on cultivated and non-cultivated cropland in the U.S. decreased 43% between 1982 and 2003, sheet and rill erosion decreased 42%, and wind erosion decreased 44%, according to USDA’s National Resources Inventory, a statistical survey of natural resource conditions and trends on non-federal land.
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“Most U.S. farms—98 percent in 2003—are family farms, defined as operations organized as proprietorships, partnerships, or family corporations that do not have hired mangers.” There you have it. That is the bottom line. End of story. Or is it just the beginning of the story?
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