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Feed grain end users should be ‘very nervous’

An ag economist is concerned for feed grain end users following USDA reports last week projecting down corn acreage and stocks.

“I’d be very nervous,” University of Illinois ag economist Scott Irwin said.

He said the U.S. has lost five to 10 million acres of crop ground since peak crop prices in 2013 and 2014…

“And I thought for sure with these high prices that we would see some of those acres come back and they’re not,” he said.

Irwin tells Brownfield a tight corn outlook got worse with USDA’s recent Prospective Planting report which projects four percent fewer corn acres to be planted this year compared to last year despite a global need that has been amplified by the Russian – Ukrainian war and diminishing South American crop conditions.

“What’s the one big factor that could explain this situation,” he said. “It sure seems to me, that that’s highly likely to be cost and availability of fertilizer.”

Irwin said USDA’s estimate of 89.5 million corn acres came in well below his expectation of 94 million acres. He said most of the lost corn acreage are expected to be planted in soybeans.