Why Less Corn

[DDelle338]

  Some of you may farm and I'm sure some of you know farmers.
  I heard last night, but didn't hear why, that there is going to be alot less corn planted by american farmers this year. I'm wondering why. We do have some more ethanal plants trying to produce, we still eat the same amount or more. We are still feeding livestock, and exporting it. Anybody know why we are planting less?

[Graybeard]

Been wondering about that here locally for the past several years. The fields I pass on my way to town regularly have been planted to cotton now for at least the last 4-5 years. They used to have corn or wheat or often both with a winter wheat crop followed by planting of corn as soon as the wheat was harvested. Now it seems all they plant is cotton. Soy beans is another crop that used to be planted in those same fields on some alternation schedule that seems to be ignored now for cotton.

[beemanbeme]

Don't know. I thought corn to gas was a big thing.  But soy beans are more of an international crop.  If I still lived in Okla, I'll bet I could find out.  

[Questor]

Weather and prices drive it. I don't know the details of your area but if there's been a lot of wet weather well into spring the past few years (as there has been in parts of the South) then farmers will be shy about planting corn. For corn to be economical as an ethanol crop farmers need ethanol plants not only near by, but with good transportation to the plant.

(By the way, you may have read or heard that it takes more than a gallon of fuel to make a gallon of ethanol. Interestingly, that's true. What makes ethanol production feasible is the sale of the by-products of production, like animal feed. That makes it profitable on average about 7 out of 11 years, in Minnesota anyway.)

Overall, corn production in the US dropped about 8% last year over previous year.  I'm not sure of how it was divided, but part of it was weather, and part of it was a big increase in the price of soy, which made soy a more lucrative crop.

[S.S.]

corn is not a drought resistant crop, in the south we are still in a pretty bad drought.

[flintlock]

Soybeans and cotton are more profitable than corn....

From what I have heard, making ethanol from corn is not cost efficient...

[Moss88hunter]

S.S. is right last summer was hard and ruined our crop. We will try it again but might end up switching to something else if history repeats itself.

Evan

[dukkillr]

Much of the above is either incorrect or misleading.  The acres planted in corn last year was a post WWII record.  This year it is projected to be somewhat lower.  That may yet change, particularly depending on the weather.

[rex6666]

I don't think their will less corn planted in TX, it is mostly sold to "FRITO-LAY" so eat mo fritos

[PartsMan]

The wheat price is way high. Nothing else planted around here this year.

[flintlock]

Partsman...They'll plant late beans behind that wheat, might start knocking on doors...I love to hunt over beans...

[PartsMan]

Partsman...They'll plant late beans behind that wheat, might start knocking on doors...I love to hunt over beans...

Not usually around here.
Our rain fall and soil can only handle one crop a year.
Some guys will sneak in 3 crops in 2 years but that's pushing it.

Deer do love beans though.
I am very lucky. My family farms or ranches about 2k acres. I don't knock on doors.
I leave that to guys that have to to hunt. No need to get greedy.

[Hairtrigger]

When they call us asking us to report our acreage, the answer depends on how bad I want to screw with the person asking me all of the annoying questions on how much of what we are planting.

[clodbuster]

Here in Iowa where the corn and soybeans are grown, typicallly 14mm ac corn and 10mm ac soybeans, the growers are staying pretty close to the same as last year.  both commodities are selling at excellent prices for farmers but corn takes much higher input costs than beans.  Farmers in the cornbelt typically plant their land 50-50 between the two crops and changing from this takes away the advantage gained when they plant corn on land that grew soybeans last year.  (Fewer pests to deal with and less fertilizer needed)  Year in and out growers are reluctant to change this and government farm programs encourage crop acreage stability.  I don't look for that big a change.   Oh yeah as far as cotton goes, growers need a lot of specialized equipment to grow it and a gin at harvest.  All this commitment means "in for a penny in for a pound" and at the current price of $.70 a pound they are just above cost of production.

[powderman]

Theres supposed to be an ethanol plant built about 15 miles from here. Good corn crop last year, but the drought cost a lot of soybeans. I saw 4 fields of beans in about 15 miles that was never harvested last year due to poor quality and high fuel costs. POWDERMAN. 

[torpedoman]

there used to be ethanol plants all over the hills but the feds cut them.

[Hairtrigger]

Other crops are making good money as well. Add to that the costs to plant an acre of corn is higher than beans or wheat.

[victorcharlie]

Much of the above is either incorrect or misleading.  The acres planted in corn last year was a post WWII record.  This year it is projected to be somewhat lower.  That may yet change, particularly depending on the weather.

Yep....I've read a few articles that indicate the same.......

[Hooker]

We already been through the corn ethanol government subsidies fiasco here once. It left a lot of folks broke and up to their eye balls in hock.
It's bad politics and will destroy whats left of our already tattered economy. To say nothing of the fact that it wont work. There are better fuels that are cheaper to produce yet our government wants to thrash this dead horse again. Less corn may mean some folks are wising up.

Pat