“Corn: Acreage at or beyond silking reached 59 percent, 28 points behind last year and 22 points behind
the 5-year average. One-fourth of the crop reached the silking stage during the week, with major
development occurring in Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio, where 30 percent or more of the crop
began silking during the week. Minnesota’s corn acreage was well behind normal with 34 percent at or
beyond silking, 62 points behind last year, and 51 points behind normal. All States were delayed in the
Corn Belt, except Michigan, and elsewhere, delays continued except in Colorado, North Carolina, and
Pennsylvania. Silking was complete in North Carolina, but was still ongoing elsewhere. Corn acreage
was 7 percent at or beyond the dough stage, 15 points behind last year and 12 points behind the normal
pace. Corn acreage had not reached the dough stage in Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South
Dakota, and Wisconsin. Condition of the corn crop was 66 percent good to excellent, increasing 1 point
from a week ago.”
Yes, but that was largely effects of the futures and thier fear of the impact of the ethanol boondoggle. This is is showing that Cycle 23 being over and 24 being weak is screwing up the growing season, so the futures will climb.
Corn is used for everything you eat pretty much, either for filler, sweetener, direct ingredient, or fodder for the critter you are eating. THis will have wide spread impact.
Called my buddy who works with the USDA folks who get these numbers. It is not leftist fear mongering, it is plain old bureaucratic laziness. The number of farmers who are contacted in these surveys is miniscule, basically the ladies who do this know which farmers that they can have a nice long gossip session with, so they go to them for the info. They will burn a week up and only talk to 10-20 folk. So if these folks are having a slow growth year, the entire county is reported that way. Shoulda checked with him before posting the info, my bad.
I’m not so much talking about USDA reporting as much as the derivatives driving the cash price of commodities. The futures will tend to lead what the cash price of a given commodity will settle at… And corn is down.
In my opinion, there’s absolutely no need for panic or concern over food prices.
Just hope corn doesn’t drop too far. It was costing $500 an acre to get the stuff in the ground around here this year. That is the fun part, we want the cost to drop some, but not too far.
