Southwest Iowa Crop Conditions

On the farm, field work has progressed nicely so far compared to the past several years.Despite a return of winter the past few days, next week’s forecast is favorable and corn planting will begin in earnest. Monday is April 20th which is a good time to start planting if weather conditions permit. Next week’s forecast calls for drier conditions and improving temperatures with highs in the 60’s and lows in the 40’s. We have not heard of supply shortages and do not anticipate any.

Gasoline consumption has, of course, dropped into the basement and therefore ethanol consumption is also way down. A number of ethanol plants have closed or plan to close until consumption resumes. Other plants have reduced production. Ethanol storage capacity is nearly full so there is no choice but to reduce production. This reduces corn demand and for the first time, were seeing ethanol plants lag in competition for corn bids.

If you’re hearing or experiencing meat “shortages”, it is not due to lack of production. We have more than enough meat in this country. We scratch our head on the logistics. Just this pastweek, several packing plants have had to shut down but does not explain lack of meat in grocery stores. The weekly USDA cold storage report says there is 5% more red meat in
freezers now as compared to a year ago.