LINCOLN, Neb.-
Nebraska farmers share the enthusiasm for ethanol made from corn and hope to share more of any profits by planting 11 percent more corn this year.
A report from the Nebraska field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service said 9 million acres of corn will be planted—the most since 1936.
As a partial result, soybean plantings will be down 13 percent from last year, to 4.4 million acres.
Other planting plans outlined in the report:
— Sorghum, 260,000 acres of sorghum, 30 percent less than 2006 and the least since 1932.
— Oats, 125,000 acres of oats, 22 percent less than last year.
— Dry edible beans, 100,000 acres, down 29 percent from 2006 and the least since 1972.
— Winter wheat, 1.95 million acres were planted in fall, up 8 percent from a year earlier.
“I really think it’s farmers responding to market signals,” said Don Hutchens, executive director of the Nebraska Corn Board. “We saw corn prices increase this fall from $2 to $4 (per bushel) and we have an ongoing growth in the ethanol industry.”
Last year, Nebraska farmers planted 8.1 million acres in corn. In 1936, they planted 9.3 million acres, statistics service said.
The acreage estimates were based on early March surveys. The actual plantings could vary because of weather and market changes.
Said Ray Supalla, professor of agricultural economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: “We very well may see folks looking at very large increases in corn, and if they haven’t contracted, they may see that soybeans will be good in the fall and may back off.”
Nationally, farmers are expected to plant 90.5 million acres of corn, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual report. That would be a 15 percent increase over 2006 and the most corn planted since 1944.
The move to plant corn is in large part due to a rush to produce corn-based ethanol, which is blended with gasoline. There are now 114 ethanol refineries nationwide and another 80 under construction. There are 12 ethanol production plants in Nebraska, producing more than 676 million gallons of ethanol each year, requiring more than 300 million bushels of corn.
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On the Net:
U.S. Department of Agriculture:
Nebraska Ethanol Board:
Nebraska Corn Board:
National Agriculture Statistics Service:
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star,
