DES MOINES, Iowa — A record corn and soybean harvest will do little to help farmers already struggling with low prices and high production costs, a farm economist said Friday after the latest crop projections were released.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service forecast is for the second-largest corn harvest on record and a new record for soybeans.
Neither comes as a surprise because more acres were planted this year and earlier forecasts also predicted a strong crop, said Lance Honig, chief of the crops branch for the Washington-based NASS, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Corn production is estimated at 13 billion bushels, up 8 percent from 2008.
Gary Schnitkey, a farm economist at the University of Illinois, said record production usually results in lower prices farmers get for their crop.
“This year we’re actually looking at pretty low incomes for farmers, not only with the fall of commodity prices which began last year at this time, but at the same time the costs farmers have had to pay have been high, particularly fertilizer,” he said.
Lower corn prices won’t translate into a big consumer break on corn flakes, Schnitkey said. “For the consumer, it doesn’t mean a lot,” he said. Food processors and grain elevators benefit more from big harvests, he said. And consumers overseas benefit because countries can import U.S. grain for less.
Corn yields are forecast to average a record 164.2 bushels per acre.
For soybeans, a record 3.25 billion bushels is forecast, up 10 percent from 2008.
