Stress to major crops and pastures was becoming serious in many fields until last weeks rain. By area, 2 percent of the winter wheat crop has been harvested in the north, 23 percent in the central region and 78 percent in the south. Ninety-eight percent of the soybean acreage has emerged compared with 92 percent for both last year and the 5-year average. Corn condition is rated 49 percent good to excellent compared with 57 percent last year at this time. Winter wheat harvest is 36 percent...

Seven hundred fifty-five million bushels of corn went to make corn sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup, citric acid, lactic acid, sorbitol, corn syrup, enzymes, starches and thickeners. This is not the delicious sweet corn our local farms grow of which we eat about a bushel per person, per year this is #2 corn, and is the main crop grown in our country. Aliens from another planet would think that we worshipped corn because most of our modern food system revolves around it. If that...

Department of Agriculture projects that farmers will boost corn acreage from 80 million in 2006 to 94 million acres this year. Coincidence? Corn is primarily fed to cows, hogs, and chickens, so higher corn prices should lead to higher prices for milk, beef, pork, poultry and eggs. Most of the increased acreage devoted to corn will come from reduced soybean acreage. The prices for other food crops jump when corn goes up because farmers choose to plant less of them. In addition, agricultural...

Times staff writer PEKIN - Havana farmer Maxine Wallbaum has farmed all her life through multiple generations and the family has always planted wheat. That attracts farmers even though the demand for corn and soy beans for ethanol and bio-diesel fuel has pushed the price per bushel for corn and soy beans to comparable prices. John Wallbaum harvests a winter wheat crop east of Havana on a hot and humid afternoon last week. She said John said he was very happy the family planted wheat...

The question is how much and what will the long-term effect be on corn going into feed or food? But it's a hot market, and when there's a hot market, people want to get in. Farmers who normally rotate their corn crop will need to decide if the cost entailed in replanting corn after corn is worthwhile. Closer to home, the numbers show that in large counties in the Midwest, which includes both Lake and Porter in Indiana, food prices rose 3.4 percent over last year. The overseas market in the...

The summer respite will find barbecuing, baseball, boating and other summertime pleasures the order of the day, capped off by evening fireworks displays. But after the Fourth of July holiday period, grain futures traders will even more keenly focus on the critical timeframe that occurs after the holiday. Here is what Conrad Leslie, the longtime and highly respected crop forecaster and market commentator, told me a few years ago: "Following the July Fourth holiday period, those who are...

Only about 11 percent of the winter wheat crop had been harvested as of June 17, compared with the 20 percent average for the previous five years, the U. winter wheat areas has not been favorable for harvesting,'' said Chikako Inoue, an analyst at futures broker Taiheiyo Bussan co. ''But for corn and soybeans, it's a different story as there's been little rain. Department of Agriculture earlier this month reduced its estimate of Ukraine's crop to 14 million metric tons, from 17. Corn and...

Daniel is at the peak of harvest in his 23 acres of corn. He says the irrigated crops will make it, but the dry land corn is a disaster because of the drought. Daniel knows many South Georgia farmers planted big crops of field corn, to take advantage of the ethanol demand for the crop. All the other farmers with all this corn have just been working themselves to death. Despite drought, sweet corn harvest excellent. Agronomists say scattered rain showers over the weekend gave some relief,...

Paul Another week of above normal temperatures last week helped the rapid maturation of small grain crops, according to the weekly crop report from the Minnesota field office of the U. Along other crops, spring wheat acreage was 93 percent jointed, with 46 percent headed, compared to the average of 72 percent jointed and 31 percent headed. The condition of most crops fell slightly from a week ago, although nearly all the areas of the state received some rain during the week. Like corn, 77...