COLUMBUS, Ind. — A new report from Purdue University says U.S. production of corn, soybeans and wheat has outpaced consumption over the last three years. The result is abundant inventories that have driven prices to 10-year lows. The report states there will be very little change for 2017.
Editor of the report, Chris Hurt says, “This gives us very low margins, for some, negative margins in crop production. Indiana agriculture is highly dominated by crop-based agriculture, so we really feel that impact when costs of production are higher than the crop prices.”
The average price for 2017 corn is $3.45 per bushel, down from $3.85 per bushel, in 2015. Soybeans are expected to be $9.50 to $10 per bushel for 2017.
Hurt says he expects the cost of production versus usage trend to continue for a little while longer “as we try to get more adjustment to the downside in cost and we get some reduction in production that can actually enhance prices of these crops a little bit more. We think the transition still is a couple of years away. We’ve been in that for three years and we think we have two more years to go.”
