Corn, soybean price outlook better but not back

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Corn, soybean price outlook better but not back

An ag economist says the rise in corn and soybean prices after sharp declines caused by COVID-19 won’t fully return to ‘normal’ until the end of the pandemic.

Gary Schnitkey is with the University of Illinois.

“We’re going to have to have COVID-19 distancing measures done with, and the fear of that over,” Schnitkey said. “And probably, the fear is more important than the ending of the measures.”

He tells Brownfield the pandemic has been especially hard on the corn market because of less ethanol consumption with fewer people traveling. Schnitkey said as more states try to lower fuel use, like California Governor Gavin Newsom pushing to ban gas-fueled cars by 2035, the domestic market for corn will shrink. He said to support corn prices, new markets for corn in ethanol need to be discovered.

“Otherwise, we’re going to be running up against this issue that we’re going to keep increasing more corn per acre and that’s going to increase supply and that will push prices down because we have less demand than had we had more ethanol use,” Schnitkey said.

Schnitkey said soybeans will likely be more profitable in 2021 and farmers should consider planting the crop next year even if they planted it this year.

Gary Schnitkey Interview

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