St. Louis, Missouri
November 10, 2008
In its report today on crop
production, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reiterated
its expectation that the 2008 corn crop now being harvested will
be the second largest ever, with the second-highest yield in
history. The National Corn Growers
Association (NCGA) welcomed this news as continued evidence
of the importance of biotechnology and the resilience of the
American farmer. “Corn
growers have had quite a challenging year and have responded
with hard work and good planning to make sure our crop remains
on target,” said NCGA President Bob Dickey, a grower from
Laurel, Neb. “Thanks to our farming practices and good
biotechnology for hardier seed, we’ve made enormous progress in
meeting all needs for food, feed, fiber, and fuel.”
Dickey noted that while harvest
is behind compared to 2007, growers are still seeing higher
yields in some parts of the country. The USDA reported that
forecasted yields are higher than last year across the northern
half of the Great Plains and northern and central Corn Belt,
while yield prospects are lower than last year in the southern
half of the Great Plains and Delta.
The USDA estimated that the
2008 harvest will bring in 12.020 bushels of corn from 78.2
million harvested acres, for a yield of 153.8 bushels per acre.
Of the total corn supply for 2008, 13.659 acres, 39 percent will
go toward feed and residual (5.3 billion bushels), 29 percent
for ethanol and co-products such as distillers grains (4 billion
bushels), and 10 percent for food, seed and other domestic use
(1.335 billion bushels). Ethanol production will return
approximately 1 billion bushels of corn back into the system for
livestock feed, Dickey said. Approximately 14 percent will be
exported (1.9 billion bushels), and the marketing year will end
with 8 percent (1.124 billion bushels) in ending stocks for the
following year.
The average annual price of
corn has dropped from $4.75 per bushel to $4.40 per bushel. In
its July estimate, the USDA had projected that corn would
average $6 for the season as corn futures neared $8. Corn
futures now are trading below $4 per bushel in some areas of the
country, Dickey noted.
“As expected, many speculators
have pulled out of the commodity market, bringing the price of
corn down by about 50 percent from the year’s high,” Dickey
said. “However, growers remain greatly concerned about the high
cost of inputs such as fertilizer and other operational factors,
such as land rent.”
USDA Crop Production Report, Nov. 10
USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, Nov. 10 |
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