April 5, 2010

 

Kansas farmers seen to plant more corn

Kansas farmers will plant nearly 500,000 additional acres of corn this year, much of that coming from the 700,000-acre drop in wheat acres planted last fall, according to a government report released Wednesday (Mar 31). 

 

It will be the largest corn crop since 1936, with an estimated 4.7 million acres expected to go into the ground this spring.

 

Nearly 213 million bushels of wheat is in storage in Kansas -- the most ever in the state -- in bins on the farm and in prairie skyscrapers dotting the countryside. More than 100 million bushels of corn, grain sorghum and soy also are in storage.

 

That leaves the question of where the upcoming wheat crop will be stored. "That's still a question that remains to be answered," said Tom Tunnell, president of the Kansas Feed and Grain Association, the trade group representing grain elevators.

A lot, he said, will depend on how the wheat crop does. "Right now, it looks fantastic," he said.

 

Even with fewer acres planted, a bumper crop could strain an already bulging storage situation. Terminal elevators already are full. "This grain has to find a place, and so far there hasn't been a good wheat market," he said.

 

While corn will be the shining star this spring, Kansas farmers plan to sow an additional 400,000 acres of soy this spring. That would be the largest soy planting in Kansas history.

 

Together, the corn and soy increase is 200,000 acres more than what was lost in wheat acres.

 

Where that extra land will come from is uncertain, said Jason Lamprecht, deputy director of Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service, a branch of the USDA. Some of it might come from land that had been idled by the federal government's popular Conservation Reserve Programme (CRP).

 

Nearly 330,000 acres of CRP expired last year, and another 600,000 acres in the programme are expected to expire this year. The USDA has indicated it will conduct a general CRP sign-up sometime this year, but no specifics have been released.

 

Corn is gaining favour because of the push for biofuels, and cash returns for the crop are expected to improve this year.

 

"Of course, Kansas farmers want to make some money," Lamprecht said.

 

On the flip side, there are some areas where farmers already are expressing concerns about how wet the soil is, and if they will be able to get corn in the ground in a timely fashion.

 

Farmers are quick to "switch to something else when they have to," he said of changing planting intentions if they cannot get a crop in the ground.