Ethanol boom makes corn the 'king' crop, but soybean acres rebound as prices rise

Flooding along the Shell Creek Valley last spring may have lowered yields in some farm fields, but it didn’t slow a trend of area farmers planting more acres of corn to take advantage of high prices.

Last spring’s corn planting was slowed by frequent rains and flooding and silt deposited in some fields resulted in no crop in some low-lying areas, said Allan Vyhnalek, extension educator with the Platte County Extension Service.

But Mother Nature didn’t seem to keep farmers from planting more corn.

Platte County farmers planted 220,000 acres of corn last year, up from 198,000 acres during 2006, according to figures compiled by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

That 2007 planting figure is a reflection of higher corn prices, Vyhnalek said.

Corn planting in the county has risen gradually at least since 2003 when 189,000 acres were planted. Plantings climbed to 195,000acres in 2004, 197,000 acres in 2005 and 198,000 acres in 2006.

Average corn yields have swelled from 145 bushels per acre in 2003to 170 bushels in 2007. The county reached a high of 183 bushels per acre in 2004.

Meanwhile, the county’s corn production totaled 26.7 million bushels in 2003 and more than 36.6 million bushels in 2007.

Corn typically accounts for about 60 percent of the acres planted in the county, with soybeans making up about 30 percent of the total acreage. Pasture and hay make up the remaining 10 percent of crop production.

“I expect there will be a swing toward more soybeans acres in 2008(when statistics are available) because of a rebound in prices,’’ said Vyhnalek, noting that soybeans are always a “solid second” in county grain plantings.

County soybean plantings hovered in a fairly steady range during the four-year period from 2003-06.

There were 131,000 acres planted to soybeans in 2003, with that figure slipping to 129,000 by 2006. The number of acres planted shrank sharply to 104,500 in 2007.

Some farmers will shift to more soybeans to take advantage of climbing prices, Vyhnalek said.

Area soybean yields have gained from 44.2 bushels per acre in 2003to 50.7 bushels an acre in 2007. Production hit a high of 52.7 bushels an acre during 2006.

Total production stood at more than 5.7 million bushels in 2003 and reached a high of more than 6.7 million bushels in 2006. Soybean production slipped to more than 5.2 million bushels in 2007.

The downturn in soybean acres and total bushels corresponded to the push for more corn to supply the area and state’s growing ethanol industry, Vyhnalek said.

American farmers planted 93.6 million acres of corn last year, more than any year since 1944, because of high prices. Corn has been in heavy demand in the United States to make the fuel additive ethanol, while booming economies in the developing world are buying more of the crop for animal feed and other uses.

Farmers planted soybeans on 63.6 million acres in 2007, the smallest figure in 12 years.

Using surveys of farmers conducted in early March, the USDA said farmers would shift back toward soybeans this year.

Across the country, the USDA projects farmers will plant 86 million acres of corn, 8 percent less than last year. The government thinks the soybean crop will grow to 74.8 million acres, an 18 percent increase.

As the outlook on the farm has brightened with higher commodity prices, county agricultural land values for 2007 also registered strong gains.

Sales of dryland farms in the county averaged $3,200 an acre, a 22.8 percent increase, according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Ag Economics Land Value Survey this year.

Gravity irrigated and center pivot irrigated sales averaged $4,080and $4,464 an acre, respectively, up more than 22 percent in both land categories. Pastureland sales averaged $1,219 an acre, a boost of 18 percent.

In anecdotal reports, Vyhnalek said he heard a couple of Humphrey-area farms sold for $5,000 to $6,000 per dryland acre in June. But farmers can’t reap the reward of rising land values without getting off the farm.

“They gotta sell to get it (profit from rising land values),’’ said Vyhnalek, adding that farmers who sell out could get clobbered by capital gains taxes. That same ag land might have sold for $300 or $400 an acre in the early-1970s, he said.