Too Much Corn With Nowhere to Go as U.S. Sees Record Crop

[Purveyor]

By Jeff Wilson, Lydia Mulvany and Megan Durisin Aug 22, 2014 8:48 AM ET

The ripening corn and soybean fields stretch for miles in every direction from Dennis Wentworth’s farm in Downs, Illinois. As he marveled at his best-yielding crops ever, he wondered aloud where the heck he’ll put it all.

“Logistics are going to be a huge problem for everyone,” the 62-year-old grower said, adding that he has invested in boosting output rather than grain bins. When harvesting starts in a few weeks, Wentworth expects his 150-year-old family farm to produce 10 percent more than last year’s record. “There are going to be some big piles of grain on the ground this fall.”

From Ohio to Nebraska, thousands of field inspections this week during the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour show corn output in the U.S., the world’s top producer, could be 1 percent more than a government estimate and soybeans 1.2 percent higher, according to a Bloomberg survey of crop scouts. Months of timely rains and mild weather created ideal growing conditions, leaving ears with more kernels than normal on 10-foot (3-meter) corn stalks and more seed pods on dark, green soy plants.

Prospects of bumper harvests sent Chicago futures tumbling into bear markets last month, two years after a drought eroded output and sparked the highest prices ever. Cheaper grain is bolstering profit for buyers including Tyson Foods Inc. and Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM), encouraging some cattle producers in the Great Plains to expand herds, and eroding income for farmers who say increased output will make up for some of the slump.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-22/too-much-corn-with-nowhere-to-go-as-u-s-sees-record-crop.html

[House of Roberts]

1. Where's the (cheap) beef?

Cheap feed should cause meat prices to drop.

[Purveyor]

2. I thought I posted an article about beef but wasn't sure if I did so here but

indeed I did:

Greener Pastures Signaling Rebound in U.S. Beef Supplies
Signs of a rebound in U.S. beef supplies are taking shape with the changing color of the pastures on Glen Cope’s 2,000-acre ranch in Aurora, Missouri.

“It’s so green and lush,” Cope, 35, a fourth-generation calf breeder, said of the knee-high grasses that feed his cows about 55 miles from the Oklahoma border. “We’ve been getting plenty of rain. 2014 so far has let us consider expanding once again and make up for the numbers that we sold off.”

Pasture conditions in the U.S., the world’s largest beef producer, are mostly recovered from a 2012 drought that forced ranchers to shrink the domestic herd to a 63-year low. While it takes years to reverse a decline in animal supply, record-high beef prices and the increasing availability of cheap feed are providing incentives for some producers to begin expanding.

A production rebound would help slow beef-price gains that the U.S. government said will be the biggest of any food group this year except pork. Cattle futures that touched a record high in July already are showing signs of a shift, heading for their biggest monthly drop since before the peak of the drought. That signals lower costs for meat buyers including Ruth’s Hospitality Group Inc. (RUTH) and Hormel Foods Corp.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-18/greener-pastures-signaling-rebound-in-u-s-beef-supplies.html

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. Cornbread anyone? nt

[LiberalEsto]

4. I suspect a number of people are boycotting corn because it's likely GMO

I certainly won't touch it any more.

Maybe they could use it to brew up a huge amount of bourbon whiskey.

[malthaussen]

5. Beans and cornbread...

-- Mal

[procon]

6. Bacon!

Can I hope to see lower prices?