by Ray Kimmel, Democrat-Leader Farm Correspondent
History is being made with record corn, soybeans and wheat prices. Most local grain producers financially have had a good 2007. But livestock farmers have been burdened with high feed costs since cattle consume corn and soybean meal.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says net farm income is up for 2007.
This new era is largely due to biofuels producers’ demands, plus growing demand for grain to be exported to foreign countries such as China and India. They want more meat in their diets.
The increased demand for grain is reversing decades of rural economic decline due to decades of low grain prices in years past such as $2 per bushel of corn, which is now approximately $5 per bushel, while soybeans are at $13 per bushel.
Farmers are taking this opportunity to pay-down debt and update farm machinery.
One study indicates food prices have risen 4 percent due to the higher price of grain, but other factors have contributed more — such as food transportation, high gasoline prices and inflation.
Grain farmers input costs have risen some 25 to 30 percent as the result of such factors as fuel, fertilizer, seed, chemicals, and the cost of land rental.
© Copyright 2002-2005 by Wood Creek Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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