Plant As Much Corn As You Want, Don’t Expect to Make Money

In 1983 for the first time, planted soybean acres surpassed corn acres by 3.5 million acres. Some market analysts thought 2017 would be another year this would happen, but it didn’t.

More than 140 scouts have sampled thousands of Midwestern corn and soybean fields during the 2017 Farm Journal Midwest Crop Tour.
More than 140 scouts have sampled thousands of Midwestern corn and soybean fields during the 2017 Farm Journal Midwest Crop Tour.
(Clinton Griffiths)

In 1983 for the first time, planted soybean acres surpassed corn acres by 3.5 million acres. Some market analysts thought 2017 would be another year this would happen, but it didn’t.

There have been some rumblings that because of current corn prices, 2018 could be the year where King Corn has its crown knocked off and replaced with another crop: soybeans.

Tommy Grisafi, branch broker with Advance Trading, Inc., said this year farmers could grow a record corn crop, and some barely broke even.

“The demand for soybeans and the price they maintained throughout the year is sometimes at a more attractive level than corn,” he told AgDay host Clinton Griffiths.

With soybeans, the yield discrepancy is smaller than it is with corn, added Grisafi.

“Soybeans are a business,” he said.

Hear his full comments on AgDay above.

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