Indiana Grain Company, LLC

Posted: 09/08/09

By: tomgrisafi

Record corn and soybean crops are expected this year in South Dakota, according to reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The state's soybean crop is expected to be 159.1 million bushels, a 15 percent increase over last year, the Agriculture Department said.

The wheat crop will be a large one as well, though it won't break any records, and prices have fallen sharply from highs of $20 a bushel in February 2008, experts say.

"It's just been a great year all the way through the growing season here," said Bill Chase, a farmer who planted corn and soybeans near Wolsey.

South Dakota's corn production is predicted to be a record 648.6 million bushels this year - an 11 percent increase over last year's record 585.2 million bushels, according to information from the National Agricultural Statistics Service and the South Dakota Corn Growers Association.

Chase anticipates harvesting the second week of October at the earliest, and he and others hope frost - a concern on South Dakota farms every fall - does not cut the growing season short.

Frost concerns are greater in the Aberdeen area. Because of excessive rain and snow in the spring, some farmers in that area weren't able to get their crop in as early as usual, Chase said.

Corn yields are expected to be 141 bushels per acre, another record if the prediction holds.

Long-term, corn yields will continue to soar in the next two decades as technology evolves, predicts Chase, who is president of the Corn Growers Association.

Source: ArgusLeader

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