Cotton took over many Georgia acres in 1995 and adverse weather
damaged crops on other
lands, but for many grain farmers, good news came out of the
bad.
“The decreased acreage for whatever reason in corn, wheat and
soybeans decreased the available
supply of all of these grains,” said George Shumaker, an
economist with the University of
Georgia Extension Service.
With fewer acres making supplies tighter, prices increase.
That’s good news for producers.
“We saw a lot of acreage from corn and other crops shift out of
those crops and into cotton,”
Shumaker said. “That’s the main reason acreage (for grain crops)
was down in 1995.”
During corn-planting season in April, price projections were
quite low, and many producers
opted for other, more profitable crops, especially cotton.
Adverse weather during the growing season significantly reduced
the ’95 corn crop. The short
crop in Georgia, and increasing world demand, pushed prices up
to $3.50 per bushel, some of the
highest prices for corn in 10 years.
“This is a good, profitable price for corn,” Shumaker said. He
expects current prices to rise
slightly as stocks decrease through the winter.
Those producers who did make a good crop and are storing it
carefully, he said, could realize a
healthy profit from the ’95 crop.
Proper storage is critical to maintaining corn quality, though.
Insect-damaged corn won’t bring as
high a price, since the nutritive value is decreased.
Farmers must inspect corn storage areas regularly and take
action if insects or other storage
problems threaten.
Growers planted about the same number of acres of soybeans
in ’95 as in the year before, but
adverse growing conditions, most notably a lack of rainfall, cut
yields this year.
“While we have very good soybean prices available right now,”
Shumaker said, “they may very
well be some of the highest prices we’re likely to see during
the marketing year for the 1995
crop,” he said.
South American producers have worked hard and are expected to
harvest a large crop. When the
crops in that growing area move into the market, Shumaker
expects prices to drop. Growers must
market carefully to make sure they get the best price they can
get for their soybeans.
Many farmers double-crop soybeans with wheat, which Shumaker
expects to provide
opportunities for profits this year.
“In light of the new farm program, it’s an alternative Georgia
farmers need to look at this year,”
he said. “It fits well into many crop rotations, and right now
the $4-per-bushel forward price for
wheat is the highest I’ve seen in a while.”
Wheat growers in Georgia have just completed their planting
season and most report fair to good
starts for their crops.
As with any commodity, a poor crop somewhere else means good
news for local farmers.
“Producers always need to manage carefully,” Shumaker said.
Controlling costs allows for more
profits no matter what the weather, locally or worldwide.
Supply and demand remain permanent factors in the commodity
markets, but close management
and effective marketing can help Georgia producers make the most
of their winter-grown or
winter-stored crops, Shumaker said.
