3 days ago
More corn than soybeans in the field this year
SOUTH DAKOTA (KELO) – We often talk about farmers having to keep a close eye on the weather as they head into planting season and beyond, but also important for them is the economy.
And this year, it's projected that market conditions and potential returns are favoring corn over soybeans. The USDA projects South Dakota farmers will plant 6.2 million acres of corn and 5.1 million acres of soybeans.
Farmers in South Dakota have had a strong start to the year with some early planting followed by steady rainfall.
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'As a farmer, it's nice to take a break because of rain,' Kevin Deinert, president of the South Dakota Soybean Association, said.
According to the USDA, about 85% of South Dakota's corn crops have been planted with 50% already emerging from the ground. As for soybeans, about 70% of those crops have been planted in the state. That's on trend with what Kevin Deinert has been seeing in his area.
'I'd say for the general area around here in Mt. Vernon, everyone's fairly well completed but there's some fields, some pockets here and there,' Deinert said. 'Generally, 90 percent complete with a few soybean fields here or there that still need to get going.'
Corn and soybeans are two of South Dakota's top crops that farmers typically rotate between each year. But this year, one of those is looking more profitable than the other.
'As we came into this year, it sure looked like the economics of corn were more favorable than soybeans and a lot of guys around here mostly stuck to their regular rotation of corn and soybeans while mixing in a few small grains as well,' Deinert said.
Matthew Elliott with the SDSU Ag Extension says more corn this year also has to do with last year's crops.
'We had a lot of soybean acres and less corn acres last year so that allowed us to build even bigger soybean supplies relative to demand,' Elliott said. 'We were shorter on corn acres so then our supply relative to demand on corn shrinks, so that market is kinda flipping back and forth. So, we're going the other way now so we're incentivizing more corn, expect to have more corn production this year. Expect to be about 4.7 million acres of shift from more corn acres this year than last. There's about 3.6 million acres less of soybeans planted this year than last.'
While there's more demand for corn over soybeans this year, Elliott says tariff talk and trade disruptions are putting pressure on prices for both crops, as well as wheat.
'You know, soybeans and wheat, we rely predominantly on exports in order to have the prices we've observed, historically speaking,' Elliott said. 'Corn, less so, we still export about 20-25 percent of our corn but even more of that is domestically consumed. But still, all of them are interrelated. So, they all kind of move together. If soybeans are weak, wheat is weak, corn will be weak. They all rely on those export markets and so anything that disrupts exports for commodities. It's going to put pressure on prices.'
Deinert says one thing farmers can do to help off-set their needs is add more diversification into their planting.
'A lot of guys maybe have put in some oats or some milo, crops that aren't generally planted,' Deinert said. 'Some guys looking for some hay for the future in case things turn dry again or just some diversification in their farms. Keeping that diversification to hopefully increase the profitability for everybody's farm.'
And as we head into the summer, farmers will be watching for what comes next in the economy.
'Looking towards the market, seeing what tariff talks do and what our trade talks do,' Deinert said. 'Hopefully, we can get some of that sorted out so we can keep a profitable environment for each of our farmers and everybody to keep on farming.'
The top export market for corn in the United States is Mexico while the top export market for soybeans is China.
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