Friday, April 29, 2011

More Corn Supply Concerns

Steve in Indiana emails:
Talked to a farmer yesterday and here is some interesting info.  We have been getting hammered with rain.  Most Indiana farmers like to get there crop out by May 1st with May 10th being very last day doing it.  I have no idea why, but they are the farmers and not me. If you start getting past these dates, yields start going down.  With this rainy spring, only 2% of the crop (beans/corn) have been put into the ground.........yikes!

4 comments:

  1. Yields for newer hybrids shown to lose 1/2 bu /acre per day after May 15th. However, corn limit down yesterday on possibly planting window in Iowa next week, along with heavy fund liquidation and rumors of fund money moving from ags to metals. Perception is everything...

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  2. Here in Ohio they have roughly the same dates. Farmers and gardeners take Mother's Day as the last possible day for frost, so they want to plant as soon after that as possible. That way they can usually get one crop harvested before the end of summer and plant another to harvest in the fall. If the rain keeps up the way it has, the fields will be far too muddy to plant the first week of May; they had this same problem last year.

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  3. We hear this every year, but when the fields dry out the farmers put headlights on the tractors work 24/7 and plant everything in a week. They're Americans, not clock punchers on a collective farm.

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  4. Richard: Valid point, but this year we are starting the year with the lowest corn stocks in 25 years; with climbing crude prices/ethanol demand. Not really a recipe for a large carryout.

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