FARM BUREAU and Extension are offering a service that benefits residents and the economy in Marshall and Putnam counties. .....5
ILLINOIS FARMERS plan to plant a great many acres this spring, but the weather doesn’t appear as though it wants to cooperate. .......6
A CONCERTED EFFORT is being made to expand involvement in the Illinois Farm Bureau Young Leaders program. ..........................12
Monday, April 4, 2011
Two sections Volume 39, No. 14
More corn, fewer bean acres forecast BY DANIEL GRANT FarmWeek
Periodicals: Time Valued
Corn prices apparently have been high enough in the winter and so far this spring to encourage farmers to plant more kernels in 2011. USDA, in its highly anticipated prospective plantings report last week, projected U.S. farmers this spring will plant 92.2 million acres of corn, up 5 percent from a year ago. If realized, U.S. corn plantings this year would be the second-highest since 1944 when 95.5 million acres was planted (farmers in 2007 planted 93.5 million acres of corn). “It’s a very sizable corn number,” said Jerry Gidel, analyst with NARMS Futures Trading, during a teleconference hosted by the CME Group. “And the wheat numbers are up sharply, too.” USDA projected winter wheat seedings are up 10 percent this year compared to last year while spring wheat seedings are
projected to grow by 5 percent. All wheat acres were projected to total 58 million, up 8 percent from a year ago. “There’s no shortage of wheat out there,” said Clayton Pope, AgriVisor market analyst. But there is concern about tight corn and soybean supplies. Stocks in all positions as of March 1 were down 15 percent for corn and 2 percent for beans compared to the same time last year.
FarmWeekNow.com Details of the planting intentions and grain stocks reports are at FarmWeekNow.com.
And that concern was exacerbated by the fact that USDA projected farmers this spring will plant 76.6 million acres of soybeans, which was below trade expectations and 1 percent fewer acres than a year ago. “The soy numbers are bullish,” said Jack Scoville, analyst with The Price Futures Group. “It (the tightening supply) is not implying much in the way of rationing.” In Illinois, farmers are expected to plant 12.8 million acres of corn, up 2 percent from last year, and 9.1 million acres of beans, equal to last year. Crop prices, after the report was released on Thursday, surpassed key benchmarks. July corn raced above $7 per bushel, May soybeans surpassed $14, and July wheat rallied above $8. The analysts predicted the crop markets will remain on edge throughout the planting season. “This report does nothing to dispel any weather concerns at all,” Scoville said. See Corn, page 6
FINAL PREPARATIONS
Farmers throughout Illinois are making their final preparations before hitting the field to plant 12.8 million acres of corn this season. Here, Brandon Graves, left, and his father, Dennis, center, work at greasing a piece of tillage equipment while Dennis’ brother-in-law, John Snider, looks on. Brandon’s twin brother, Blake, also is involved in the family’s Lake View Grain Farms near Olney in Richland County. (Photo by Ken Kashian)
Obama offers clear, strong biofuels support BY MARTIN ROSS FarmWeek
The White House last week offered perhaps its strongest support yet for biofuels. That came amid ethanol/biodiesel industry assurances that coming renewable fuels demand can be met. As Mideast tensions intensified, President Obama issued a new energy “blueprint” aimed at reducing the U.S.’ current 11 million barrels in daily oil imports by a third by 2025. Obama advocated “safe and responsible” domestic oil and natural gas development. At the same time, he backed efforts to commercialize “promising cellulosic and advanced biofuels technologies,” acknowledging corn ethanol is “already making a significant contribution to reducing our oil dependence.” “Our best opportunities to enhance our energy security can be found in our own backyard,” said the president. The Renewable Fuels Association noted overall energy prices are at their “steepest sustained rate of gain since 2008,” while ethanol is contributing to the domestic economy in the form of feed co-products (nearly 35 million metric tons produced in 2009-2010) and other potential byproducts (see page 3). “In the last couple of his speeches, (Obama) kind of danced around and never really talked
FarmWeek on the web: FarmWeekNow.com
about it (biofuels),” National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Bart Schott said in an RFD Radio-FarmWeek interview. “This last speech, he was really pretty pro-biofuels.” The president directed that by 2015, all federal fleets use alternative energy vehicles, including ethanol/biodiesel, electric, or “hybrid” vehicles that use both liquid fuel and electricity. He proposed partnerships with companies that want to upgrade their fleets to use renewable fuels. The president’s biofuels support fits well with plans for “reforming” the existing 45-centper-gallon Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) (see page 3), Schott said. He hoped Obama’s message would resonate on Capitol Hill, where the credit is at risk. After obtaining a one-year extension of the credit in December, NCGA joined with key biofuels groups to promise Congress “VEETC reform,” Schott stressed. The organizations are working with both credit critics and champions to explore how VEETC might be restructured, he said. Schott hailed Obama’s call for development of at least four new commercial cellulosic ethanol plants over the next two years. See Biofuels, page 3
Illinois Farm Bureau®on the web: www.ilfb.org