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Economist expects large yield loss after weekend freeze

A University of Illinois economist says the weekend Midwest freeze and the blizzard in the Dakotas might bring more recovery to the corn market. Scott Irwin tells Brownfield, “From a market standpoint, I like holding pat for now because, I’m thinking, you know, my estimates suggest that this may have knocked back U.S. corn production about a quarter of a billion bushels, and I think that’s probably close to the minimum damage.”

Irwin says farmers who can hold their corn probably should for now.  He says the early awareness of the storm coming and Friday’s U.S.-China trade announcement contributed to some market recovery, but prices might go up. “The market to some degree has already anticipated this. The question is how much has been anticipated, and is the damage possibly even worse than I’ve laid out.”

Irwin says it will take time to know how much of an impact the freeze had on crops.  He expects the November USDA report to give a hint to how much actual yield loss took place.