News

Ag economist says livestock producers could see lower feed costs in 2024

An ag economist says livestock producers could see some relief in 2024. 

In its latest report, the USDA lowered its current year price for corn by a nickel and lowered soybean meal price by around $10 per ton.  University of Missouri’s Scott Brown says, “$4.80 corn and $380.00 a ton soybean meal.  Those are moving in the right direction.”

He tells Brownfield producers will need to watch what’s happening with the crops in South America. “We keep getting different information about the size of that crop,” he says.  “A lot of concern about it’s going to be a lower crop, which might suggest doing some price protection sooner rather than later. If you’re in that camp.”

And, he says, it isn’t too early to start thinking about corn-soybean acres in the US for 2024.  “I could see a lot of interest in planting corn,” he says.  “Which might be the ‘I’m going to hold off on doing too much risk protection’ because if we plant a lot of corn, we have decent weather, probably keep talking about lower prices as we get further into 2024.”

He says the lower costs for feed could provide some optimism as livestock producers keep a close eye on their bottom line.