American Farmers planted higher than expected amounts of Corn this year, due to record high prices of $7.50 per 60 lb bushel of corn at planting time. June brought moderate temperatures throughout the midwest and northeast growing regions and there was consistent rain right to the end of the month when the last seedlings became established. Once established, corn has low water requirements.
Also, there is new equipment and techniques being adopted by farmers that no commodity news reporting agencies are talking about. It is called direct seeding. This year, for the first time, it is estimated most corn land in the US were planted with direct seeding, where instead of being plowed over, the ground is left undisturbed and a 2 inch slice is made between last years rows and seeds are dropped in by a hydraulic tube. The slice is then closed over by a flattening wheel directly in back of the seed dropper. This process protects the land and the seeds from drying out during germination by leaving last years stubble as a mulch to trap moisture. Direct seeding was shown to have the same results as plowing. That is why everyone is doing it this year! It costs farmers less in operating costs because they no longer have to run a tractor plow, saving on gas and giving them more money and time to plant more corn! This was a highly underappreciated aspect of this year's corn crop.
Also underappreciated was the amazing productivity of America's breadbowl farmland during a good weather season. The rain cooperated on time and seeds planted in May and early June have been established. Traders realized this too late, and sold quickly last week. Corn plunged 25% in two weeks of trading to a friday closing current price of $5.96 per 60 pound bushel of maize kernels.
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