Corn price turnaround bodes well for farmers

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Corn price turnaround bodes well for farmers

The chairman of the National Corn Growers’ Risk Management Action Team says a lot has changed in a few months’ time for growers.

Doug Noem, who is also president of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association, says his team was charged with studying a supply management system in August.

“There was a lot of talk of a $3-Billion carryover in this market, you know, and we were looking at what does 2021 look like with crop insurance with a two in front of the corn price or a low three? That isn’t a lot of coverage for crop insurance.”

Noem says they started that process but things changed for the better in a hurry, “That really gives you a lot of coverage when we start talking about those kind of numbers with crop insurance. So, that gives us a lot better opportunities and people are feeling a lot better about going forward here in the next year.”

China came to market, then Japan, and with the USMCA in place, he says things started to come together to form a demand-driven market. Now, there is talk of carryouts under two-billion bushels.

Now, he says, it looks like corn farmers – with a break-even of about $3.50 a bushel – will have crop insurance in 2021 with a 4 in front of it or a high three.

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