Tue, Dec 02 2008
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Published September 15, 2008 04:06 pm - USDA forecasts less corn this season The Oskaloosa Herald DES MOINES — The U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its forecast of this year’s corn harvest by 2 percent, and analysts say even that estimate might be high. The projected harvest of 12.1 billion bushels comes after a wet spring and dry August. The tight supplies are pushing up grain prices and forcing livestock farms to cut back production. This year’s projected corn harvest would still be the second-largest on record after 2007, but supplies remain scarce. Iowa State University agronomist Roger Elmore said the state needs a normal or later-than-normal frost to squeeze the most possible out of the current crop. Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities Inc. in West Des Moines, said the department is likely to reduce its harvest estimates again next month. “The ground reports we get across the grain belt continue to show a crop that’s not as large as last year,” he said. Corn and soybean futures jumped Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade after the USDA issued its latest estimates. Soybeans didn’t escape the department’s eye, either. The agriculture department lowered its estimate of the soybean harvest by 1 percent this month. Iowa’s estimated yield was unchanged from August, but the estimated yield nationally was lowered a half bushel to 40 bushels per acre. The estimated soybean harvest of 2.9 billion bushels would be 13 percent higher than last year. Economists say higher prices for beef and other meats are on the way after higher commodity prices have forced some livestock producers to cut production. “There is going to be continued pressure on food prices from the situation we have been in and are still in,” said Keith Collins, a former chief economist for the USDA. “These are very difficult markets.” Iowa is the country’s No. 1 corn and soybean producer. Earlier this month, Iowa’s leading grain marketing specialist said he is more pessimistic about the state’s corn and soybean production than the federal government after the summer’s record flooding and a poor start to the growing season. 
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