June 3, 2008

US corn planting sluggish on wet spring weather

Corn planting in the US corn belt has been delayed by weeks due to a cold, wet spring weather.

US analysts said that the poor weather conditions could drive prices of corn up even further.

Farmers in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana are replanting corn that either sat under water in flooded fields too long to germinate or cannot break through soaked, compacted soils.

The USDA reported that 88 percent of the corn crop has been planted, against a 100-percent result last year.

Late planting and USDA projections that farmers will plant less corn this year have supported corn prices, keeping them near record highs.

The National Weather Service projected wet, soggy soil stretches across the heart of the Corn Belt, from eastern Nebraska and Iowa through Ohio, where only two-thirds of the crop is in the ground.

Furthermore, cooler and wetter weather than usual is expected for the next month in the Corn Belt.