Farmers planted fewer acres of corn, but are still expected to bring in a big harvest of the Midwest’s most important crop. Harvest Public Media’s Grant Gerlock reports.
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Farmers planted just under 90 million acres of corn this spring, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s the smallest area since 2010. News of that slightly smaller supply, along with the wet weather in the Midwest, put corn prices on the rise – at least for now. David Fiala is a market analyst in Lincoln, Nebraska. "The market’s adjusting here and saying, ‘Hey, we’re pricing in some weather premium. The weather’s there, we’ve probably lost some yield. How much? We don’t know yet. We know we lost some acres. And so the market’s trying to price that in now." But if the weather turns around, farmers could still bring in one of the largest corn crops ever. That means they’re not likely to get the high prices for their crop that they reaped in 2011 or 2012. Grant Gerlock, Harvest Public Media.