High Corn Prices

[cowz]

Ok, all you ag economists on the board.  $4.00 corn.  The feedlots are screaming, the NCBA is screaming.  Some are predicting a huge slide in market price for weaned calves this fall.  On the flip side, ethanol production seems to be a common sense answer to our dependence on foreign oil.  Seems to be better for our own farm economy than $2.00 corn.  How can we all benefit??  Whatcha think? ???

 

[red]

All I know is that the guys here are putting up a new 100,000 bu grain bin. :
Mixed bag, but good for us grain farmers.
Red

 

[TxAdmin]

Ethanol production has grown considerably in Kansas.  I have a friend that is a large hog farmer and the price of corn is killing him. 

I drive a diesel, so I have never tried a blend of ethanol, but I have considered using biodiesel.

 

[mlk32]

The topic of ethanol has been part of a local, well run company's swift rise on the stock market.  Reading this post reminded I just read an article on the company and its thoughts on future ethanol production. 

Here is the link to the article: 

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070210/BUSINESS03/702100380/-1/BUSINESS

 

[Joe Boy]

How many plants have opened to make ethanol since last years high fuel prices?  There are several under construction, but how many are actually buying and using the corn to make fuel?  I really think the price has jump more from Wall Street than from the production of ethanol.  I believe some of it was the influence of the larger oil companies to drive the cost up to keep their prices up.  Ethanol might burn cleaner but it takes more of it to produce the same horsepower. 

With the cold weather we have had the last two months our fuel cost has continued to increase on the farm.  I can buy gasoline with the tax on it cheaper than I can buy farm diesel.  I fertilized my wheat ground in August and need to top dress it near the end of the month and it will cost me $100 more per ton that it did in August.  I might not put out any more fertilizer.  I am glad that those raising corn have gotten better prices and I hope they can continue to do so, but I got $40 per cwt less than I did a year ago when the market news broke.  That is 240 dollars per head less and that is tough.  The market has rebounded, but is still under what it was a year ago.  It has made it even more a lopsided price when you consider all the cattle that died in the storms this year and the storms and fires of last year.

I wish politics did not play such a large part in what we get for our product.  Parity is a forgotten part of rural America's farm life.  I bet most of the young people who read this site do not know what parity is?  Neither political party does and you watch Iowa and see if it is mentioned in some way to be included in the farm bill.

 

[TxAdmin]

How many plants have opened to make ethanol since last years high fuel prices?  There are several under construction, but how many are actually buying and using the corn to make fuel?  I really think the price has jump more from Wall Street than from the production of ethanol.  I believe some of it was the influence of the larger oil companies to drive the cost up to keep their prices up.  Ethanol might burn cleaner but it takes more of it to produce the same horsepower. 

With the cold weather we have had the last two months our fuel cost has continued to increase on the farm.  I can buy gasoline with the tax on it cheaper than I can buy farm diesel.  I fertilized my wheat ground in August and need to top dress it near the end of the month and it will cost me $100 more per ton that it did in August.  I might not put out any more fertilizer.  I am glad that those raising corn have gotten better prices and I hope they can continue to do so, but I got $40 per cwt less than I did a year ago when the market news broke.  That is 240 dollars per head less and that is tough.  The market has rebounded, but is still under what it was a year ago.  It has made it even more a lopsided price when you consider all the cattle that died in the storms this year and the storms and fires of last year.

I wish politics did not play such a large part in what we get for our product.  Parity is a forgotten part of rural America's farm life.  I bet most of the young people who read this site do not know what parity is?  Neither political party does and you watch Iowa and see if it is mentioned in some way to be included in the farm bill.

Oil companies and did step in and buy corn to make it hard for ethanol to compete.  There are many other technologies out there will be better solutions if they eventually reach the market place.  Fuel cells have always intrigued me, but we need the infrastructure up where a person can fill there car with hydrogen.  Also advances in battery technology will help greatly.

 

[cowz]

We often hear talk of carburators that can make a car get 100 miles per gallon, only we cannot have them because the oil companies have purchased the patents.  When are we as a nation going to wake up and become more efficient consumers.  Look at all the work, paper and postage computers and the internet have saved the consumer.  Could we improve fuel efficiency by more than 25% over the last 30 years??  Not a chance!  Ok, time to crawl off my soap box, go to bed and dream about Dodge 3500 pickups that get 200 miles per gallon!!!!  SIGH!!!!!!

 

[Jill]

All I know is that my feeds are all $100 per ton higher this year than they were last year.  We also heat with a corn burning stove and that price doubled this year.  I am happy for the farmer, but it is killing the rest of us.

 

[red]

My hubby is going to a meeting today on raising back to back corn. Usually not recommended because it affects plant health, causes diseases, standability issues, & soil depletion. Now they are finding ways to overcome those issues. The local feed company is calling weekly to buy corn. They're having troubles getting it too because the demand has been high.
We also chop our own silage & haylage. Do custom chopping also. We put it in those long white bags. Looks like we are growing hug white worms from overhead. The local dairy's buy about a load a day of that too. You have to be very versatile t o stay in today's market.

Red (cow)

 

[garybob]

I have heard, folks, that the Petroleum Co.'s are also buying corn and bumping the price up to inhibit the production of Ethanol. Has anyone else heard of this being done, or is it just coffee shop talk? Not from corn country, so I've not had the opportunity to ask folks who really know something. Help me with the truth.