i live in farm country

[questionseverything]

I am past 60 years and for the first time in my life, there is no huge pile of corn at the local elevator after harvest.

between the wet spring and the early frost their wasn't much to bring in

I think we are past the tipping point

I pray I am wrong

[Kablooie]

1. The best thing a president could do for farmers...

Is to start a major effort to control global emissions. There is an estimate that by 2025 we’ll start to see major drops in world food production.

[questionseverything]

2. the point of my op is, we are seeing a major drop in food production this year

not that 2025 is that far off

[jcgoldie]

4. You think theres "a major drop in food production"...

...because you didnt see a big pile of corn at your local elevator?

[questionseverything]

20. i get u dont understand it if u havent lived in farm country but

every year, every elevator has huge piles of corn outside waiting to be dried or shipped

these piles are like 4 football fields and 20-30 foot high, huge


it was so wet in the spring farmers planted around "puddles" so they were planting like a third of normal and now with the early cold they are harvesting less than half of that

if climate change has changed the seasons enough that we can't produce food on the massive scale we are used to , we are in trouble

[jcgoldie]

30. Im a farmer

I get that you cant tell anything by the size of the pile of grain in front of your elevator.

I agree 100% on the subject of climate change however.

[Drahthaardogs]

6. That's not true.

There's a ton of crop, but thanks to tarrifs, no market

[Wellstone ruled]

14. Couple of things at play.

First is yields,the Corn belt took a mother nature slap in the face. Late planting,way to much rain,and the Growing Degree Days were just not there. Plus the Corn that was harvested came in wet for the most part. The most likely reason you are not seeing Corn Piles is the lousy harvest as well as most are sitting on their Corn hoping for higher prices .

Only Corn or Soybeans that are moving are the filling of Future Contracts or forced sales to pay bills. The real interesting story will know doubt be playing out by the end of January or the middle of February when Forward Crop Planting Financing comes into play. Going to get ugly.

[roamer65]

3. With so much of Australia burning, I'd say we are past the climate tipping point.

Get ready for the “Roaring ‘20’s”.

[Drahthaardogs]

5. There is so much corn in storage it's obscene

It's at $3.80 new crop and you need $4.00 to break even. Everyone put it into storage last year hoping for an uptick in prices that never came.

There is so much corn the silos are full and guys are storing it on stockpiles on the ground. Those guys that put it in storage lived off those short term loans that are about to come due.

[Blue_true]

10. How is corn stored on the ground?

Last edited Sun Dec 22, 2019, 04:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Is there a tarp under and over it to control water access?

[Drahthaardogs]

12. They are just piling it on the ground, usually on asphalt

The silos are full because the farmers are hoping futures will be better

[Blue_true]

16. What are the risk of leaving it out exposed, other than animals that eat corn? nt

[questionseverything]

18. that is kind of the point...the silos are still full from last year

if there was much of a harvest the elevators would be overflowing with corn waiting to be shipped out but we are not seeing that

like I have seen every year of my life


plus the spring was so rainy that many storage units "exploded" from the wet corn

[Drahthaardogs]

21. More corn is produced than we can use here

A lot goes to ethanol and a lot to foreign markets. Both have been reduced.

[questionseverything]

22. yes more is produced than we can use here..we feed the world ya know

[Drahthaardogs]

23. We USED to feed the world

Trump is fixing that

[Ron Green]

7. Why is it all corn and soy?

Where is the crop rotation, biodiversity and good tilth that ought to be (and used to be) the foundation of agriculture?

[Blue_true]

11. Genetically modified seed that allow farmers to use chemicals and plant

the same thing in a plot of land for multiple years in a row.

[Drahthaardogs]

13. They rotate beans and corn every year

Soybean are a legume so they fix atmospheric nitrogen. Corn sucks up the nitrogen hard.

[questionseverything]

19. they throw in alfalfa or clover once in a while

maybe hay

[babylonsister]

8. I live in FL. Corn was scarce/non-existant here

in the summer, when it's usually prolific. I missed it.

[rickyhall]

9. I live rural Arkansas. When first came here there were all kinds of farms, now all I see grass.

[erlewyne]

15. It is a mystery to me because I do not farm.

I often park my pickup at the elevator across the street, I
park between a utility pole and a down guy so my spot is
not in the realm of the elevator.

Years ago there were tractors and wagons but now there are
18 wheelers dumping. The elevator is now seasonal and not
used in late summer and winter. Just a few months.

It holds a million bushels and has a railroad spur to haul
grain away (tracks run through my yard). Right now the
silos are full, the place is dead. We have a soy bean processor
8 miles away and they take care of all the soy. The box cars
will be coming in and filling up and hauling corn away.

The farmers manage the unfavorable weather and that amazes
me. they are tough sons of bitches, I mean they do magic.
every year.

[bluestarone]

17. From North Dakota here.

Lots of corn STILL in the fields here. Unable to get from field to elevators because of weather extremes. I'm not sure if the farmers care because of prices, plus drying the corn eats up profits. (propane prices going up)

[GusBob]

24. I think your prayers have been answered

Per an article I just read. Despite a bad spring and spotty weather elsewhere, the corn harvest is only down 5% over last year
Prices are down and the farmers are holding their harvest back until they go up

I was hunting in Nebraska and the harvest was late but good

North Dakota had problems with an early snow

[Demovictory9]

25. ..

[pbmus]

26. Corn is one of the worst crops to plant...it destroys earth...takes all nutrients, adds little

Last edited Sat Dec 28, 2019, 10:28 PM - Edit history (1)

Also takes a lot of chemicals to grow , Monsatan, duplicitous DuPont and others suck the life right out of the earth...literally kill everything that moves, flies, or crawls

Most of the wet corn will be sold at a loss to feed lots...for the most part we are so full of corn we are bursting at the seams...farmers need to invest in hemp and other fast growing non lethal crops...

Also look no further for many of our diseases today...

https://responsibletechnology.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Corn-Products-Derivatives-06-06-17.pdf

[MontanaFarmer]

27. Hemp is interesting.

However, it's already outgrown the infrastructure needed to process it. Farmers all want to grow CBD hemp, as that's where the money is, but the amount needed to fill that demand will never show hemp to reach beyond a small niche crop. We would need some large-scale development in usage of the fiber to make it viable.
The real place farmers need to focus their lobbying efforts, IMO, is to push for compensation for changing their practices to help combat climate change. Multi- species cover crops to sequester carbon, grazed down by cattle or sheep that aren't ever put in a feedlot to perpetuate this "king corn" system we have now, could help agriculture be part of the solution. Such a system reduces tillage, allowing more carbon sinking in the soil. It reduces heavy usage of synthetic nitrogen, a huge contributor to climate change on its own. It would be a huge undertaking to change the food production system so fundamentally, but if you can make it lucrative for the stakeholders there's at least a chance.

[bluecollar2]

28. Agreed

South Florida tropical fruit grower here.

Lots of interest in hemp as a crop down here due to our year round ability to grow but right now not enough infrastructure to process the product and other questions.

Row crops losing profitability to imports and tropical fruit as well.

Specialty/niche farming on 5 acre lots and Nurseries are now the consistently profitable but those are under threat from real estate development.

[pbmus]

29. I understand your concerns about infrastructure, however

The infrastructure we currently have can transition to hemp fairly easily and quickly..

[MontanaFarmer]

31. Yes, but will there be enough interest

to generate the demand for building materials (hempcrete etc), to use up the supply already in the pipeline? I'm not so sure. Farmers are way ahead of the rest of the industry WRT hemp.

[pbmus]

32. As usual, the interest for a capitalist is money...

And hemp grows in 110 days with 10-12 inches of water...that means 3 growth cycles in the south, 1-2 in the north...

[MontanaFarmer]

33. I agree with the premise.

However, I also know folks that have grown it for multiple years now and have yet to see any return. As constituted, the market is oversupplied.

[pbmus]

34. Then get farmer cooperatives/other marketers to turn raw product...

Into usable sellable products...start with least steps to produce

[MontanaFarmer]

35. I'm not going to belabor it.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I believe the demand is overstated at this point, and absent a breakthrough in technology or usage it will remain so. Many people and good organizations are dedicating time and resources to build out the industry though, so i still am hopeful your optimism will bear out!