Cody White climbed into the combine cab about 10 days earlier than he expected this year. Hot, dry weather leading into Labor Day pushed harvest up.
The weather didn’t just get combines running ahead of schedule; wild storms rolled through Maroa, Ill., in June and again in August, impacting the crop.
“We had everything,” White says. “I mean, we’ve had multiple wind storms, multiple tornadoes. It seemed like we were right in the path of all those storms this year, and a lot of water.”
White has seen 15" to 20" more rain than he typically gets in a year. He had fields sitting in water all of June.
Disease Pressure Follows the Water
White’s corn was hit with crown rot and tar spot. He’s also dealing with top kill. He hasn’t started harvesting soybeans, but he’s dealing with a crop that’s been impacted by sudden death syndrome and brown stem rot. He expects disease to take a bite out of corn yields.
“We’re probably at least 25, 30 bu. off of last year so far on this. I’m anticipating it to get a little bit better. This is some April-planted corn. I think the May stuff maybe has a better shot, but we’re already way off of last year,” White says. “The bushels make up the difference. Really we’re hoping and praying for bushels because we got some price with us, but now we got higher [fertilizer] and higher fuel costs.”
Fuel Costs Hit During Peak Usage
White knows as well as any farmer that bringing in bushels takes fuel to stay running.
The American Farm Bureau Federation reports on-highway diesel prices are up almost 70% year over year. As of Sept. 21, GasBuddy reports the median U.S. on-road diesel price is $6.39 per gallon. The cost is 10 cents lower than the national average and 30 cents higher than last week. California leads the way as the state with the highest average diesel price, $8.38.
Weeks of record-high costs have White rethinking his tillage strategy.
“That’s been hard to swallow because we’ve had a nice rally in the markets due to some of these crop tours and what the growing season’s brought,” he says. “But that’s a little bit negated with the cost of fuel in our highest usage time right here. I mean, we’re absolutely burning through it this time of year.”
The Market Is Playing Mind Games
While farmers kick machines into high gear, the markets are adding another layer of stress. The jump in prices looks great on paper, but volatility and input price pressure are catching up with White and others.
“I mean, no one saw the market rallying like this, especially beans,” he says. “A lot of us sold beans with $11 on the handle. So, now it’s hard to sit there and watch them get to $13 when you know you can use extra, whatever you can just scratch and claw to get.”
