How Many Acres of Soybeans Are Needed?(4/21/2014) The USDA’s survey of U.S. crop producers last month revealed intentions to plant 81.493 million acres of soybeans this year. That is 3.765 million more than reported as planted or intended to be planted in June of last year, 4.96 million more than actually planted in 2013, and 4.042 million more than the previous record acreage in 2009. Planting intentions exceed last year’s acreage in every major soybean state except Missouri, with the largest increases reported for Minnesota, Nebraska, and North Dakota. A slightly smaller percentage of plantings will likely be double-cropped acreage since soft red-winter wheat acreage was reported to be down by 16 percent from acreage of a year ago. More...
Monthly Fertilizer Prices: Spring 2014 with Comparisons to 2009 through 2013(4/15/2014)
Fertilizer prices have been increasing in recent months; however, per acre fertilizer costs should be lower in 2014 than in recent years. Prices suggest fertilizer costs for corn of $150 per acre in 2014, compared to costs near $200 per acre in 2012 and 2013. Read the FEFO...
Causes of High U.S. Corn Yields: Evaluation of County Yields(3/25/2014)
An evaluation of county yields for years between 2004 through 2013 suggests that corn yields have to be above average across the vast majority of the corn-belt counties for the U.S. to have a corn yield significantly above trend. Similarly, county yields in the majority of corn-belt counties have to be below average for the U.S. yield to be significantly below trend. Read the FEFO...
