Nationwide demand for corn to fuel the booming ethanol industry could mean more cornfields planted in South Dakota this spring.
And grain marketing experts say the price of corn should stay at or near record highs as well, allowing farmers to cash in on the opportunity.
Farmers should see a cash corn price of $3.40 to $3.60 a bushel this fall, said Alan May, extension grain marketing specialist at South Dakota State University. The last time corn for delivery brought $3 or more was late January through early March 2004, and before that for just a month in 1996, he said."This is a much more prolonged type of rally that we rarely, if ever, see," May said. "These are historically high prices, which has an awful lot to do with ethanol and the massive growth of that industry."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that by fall, the nation will need 2.1 billion bushels of corn to make ethanol, a 34 percent increase in demand over a year ago, May said. In response, farmers are expected to plant from 8 million to 12 million more acres of corn this year.South Dakota typically sees 4 million acres of corn planted each year, but signs suggest that number will grow here as well.
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