2016 Year
in Review
By John Fulton,
Logan County Extension |
Send a link to a friend
[October 28, 2016]
The 2016 year has certainly been another
interesting one. One of the prime factors making things interesting
was the number of rain events. I logged 66 days with precipitation
at my house between April 1 and September 30. Of course, some of
these didn’t amount to a lot of accumulated precipitation. The
frequency did, however, keep producers from field operations for
large blocks of time. The end result was most of the corn in the
county being planted in a week-long block the third week of April,
and many of the soybeans being planted a month later during the
third week of May.
|
Whenever planting is done in a short period of time, as relayed
by a mentor years ago, you are destined for great things – or doomed
for bad ones. The risk management of staggered planting goes out the
window in a nutshell. Yield reports have been on the side of great
things for the most part to this point. Yields were predicted to
challenge the lofty levels set in the record year of 2014. In that
year, Logan County corn and soybean yields were 230.8 bushels to the
acre for corn and 63.7 for soybeans. While official yields from the
National Ag Statistics Service won’t be available until late
February, appearances are we may fall short of those figures on corn
and challenge the soybean yield numbers.
Challenges to the crops have existed. Diplodia ear rot in corn and
Sudden Death Syndrome in soybeans are two of the more common
problems which took bushels off of our potential yields. And, of
course, water caused some issues. Water problems were more common in
low-lying areas, where limited replanting occurred. The only real
dry periods we experienced this year were the last half of June, and
then as we were into the harvest season. Both of these periods did
offer some benefits, as the June period forced crops to root further
into the soil to seek moisture and the harvest period – well, that
allowed for harvest to proceed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/28/images/ads/current/grieme_lda_farm_2015.png)
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Aug/26/images/ads/current/directory_buttons.png) The financial situation remains a major topic of discussion.
According to University of Illinois projections, negative returns on
corn will continue through 2017. Soybeans are projected to show a
slight profit in 2016, and turn negative on return for 2017. These
figures include all costs, which may not be applicable in all
situations, but they do show the tightening economic situation
across the agriculture spectrum. The University budgets do show a
decrease in land costs of $33 from 2015 levels to projected 2017.
There are also some USDA safety net programs which have recently
made payments for the 2015 crop year to some producers.
In the livestock area, prices have decreased a minimum of 20% since
mid-summer. Hog prices have once again been hit the hardest with
decreases exceeding 30%. Of course, in-place contracts for grain and
livestock may temporarily insulate producers, but new contracts are
at substantially reduced levels. The bright spot for livestock
producers has been the reduced feed costs, at the expense of the
crop producers.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/28/images/ads/current/cia_lda_FFARM_2016.png)
The trend to locally produced food continues to gain steam. One
great indicator has been the success of the latest Farmer’s Market
in Lincoln. Reports of high attendance, and sales by vendors,
indicate people want to know where the food comes from, how it was
produced, and be able to speak with the person who grew it. This
isn’t just a local phenomenon, as it is playing out all over the
country. This is in addition to people who grow their own, and then
want to preserve the food by canning, freezing, or dehydrating. What
was once becoming a lost art, has returned to some prominence.
As we work to finish harvest this year, many are eying next year –
and the prospects for improved income. While substantial yields from
this year will bolster income now, they will tend to keep a lid on
price movement for next year. Of course there are outside factors
such as ethanol use for corn, food ingredient processing such as
cooking oil, and the potential for increased consumption for
livestock producers. Exports to other countries, needing additional
commodities for their food and industrial uses, may also increase
consumption - and lead to eventual higher commodity prices.
John Fulton
County Extension Director
University of Illinois Extension
700 South Airport Drive
Springfield, IL 62707 http://web.extension.illinois.edu/lms/
fultonj@illinois.edu
phone 217.782.4617 fax 217.524.6662 Serving Logan, Menard, and
Sangamon
Counties
|