Corn Belt Farmers Enjoy Record Harvests

By JIM SUHR

ST. LOUIS – Earl Williams has heard the joke about how farmers always find a reason to complain. But like many Midwest farmers, the northern Illinois grower of corn and soybeans has no gripes this year.

“It’s probably the best corn crop I’ve ever had,” Williams, 57, said from his farm near Rockford, Ill., where yields in some fields almost doubled over last year.

Friendly weather that included 14 inches of crop-quenching August rain propelled Williams’ farm to banner yields – 140 to 205 bushels of corn per acre, complemented by yields of 38 to 61 bushels of soybeans per acre.

Such testimonials are common throughout the Corn Belt, where farmers who converted soybean acreage into cornfields to meet expected demand from ethanol plants were rewarded with bountiful harvests and relatively high prices.

Illinois corn growers reaped 2.31 billion bushels, 27 percent more than last year, said John Hawkins of the Illinois Farm Bureau. They planted more than 13 million acres, nearly 2 million acres more than 2006. The average yield of 178 bushels per acre is the second biggest ever in the state, where records date to 1866.

The harvest appears equally robust across the country. Though official numbers won’t come until January, Hawkins said, estimates put U.S. corn production at a record 13.2 billion bushels, 25 percent more than last year. Roughly 86 million acres of cornfields – the most since 1933 – produced an average yield of 153 bushels, falling short of the 2004 record of 161 bushels.

Other Corn Belt states are posting big numbers. According to U.S. Agriculture Department estimates, North Dakota’s corn production will be 279 million bushels and Nebraska’s 1.5 billion bushels – both records. Iowa farmers reportedly harvested a record 2.44 billion bushels of corn.

The corn harvest in Ohio is so big that farmers are running out of storage. Some are piling it up outside bins and grain elevators. Ohio farmers expect to harvest a record 541.5 million bushels this year, a 15 percent increase over 2006.

Overall soybean production fell, however, largely because of farmers’ shift to corn and the lack of rainfall at key times during the growing season. Soybean prices remain strong, sometimes approaching $10 a bushel.

Illinois soybean growers turned out nearly 361 million bushels, down 25 percent from a year ago, Hawkins said. Nationwide, farmers brought in 2.6 billion bushels of soybeans.

When it came to pricing, “it was a very good year for all grains,” said Rick Tolman, the National Corn Growers Association’s chief executive. “It’s one of those rare times when most of (farmers’) options looked very good.”

Corn growers earned $2.20 to $2.40 a bushel this time last year – depressed prices lingering from the record crop of 2004. Farmers now can get $3.40 to $3.60 a bushel, largely because of the demand for ethanol fuel, Tolman said.

But farmers agree that challenges loom, notably when it comes to absorbing rising costs of fertilizer, diesel fuel, chemicals and seed.

Still, you won’t hear complaints from Floyd Streitmatter, a Peoria County, Ill., farmer beaming about his average of 220 to 225 bushels of corn from his 300 acres – and soybean yields averaging 55 bushels over an additional 200 acres.

“It’s really exciting this year to be farming,” he said.

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SEATTLE (AP) – Starbucks Corp. plans to open a farmer support center in Ethiopia’s capital next year to help growers improve the quality of their coffee crops and boost production using sustainable practices.

The world’s largest specialty coffee retailer, which opened a similar center in Costa Rica three years ago, said the one in Addis Ababa would be the first of its kind in Africa.

Starbucks has not set a date for opening the new center. At a February conference in Addis Ababa, executives said it was expected to open in 2007, but on Wednesday, Starbucks spokeswoman Stacey Krum said the company was still scouting possible sites.

The center’s goals will include getting more farmers to take part in a program that grades them on such things as how well they shade their coffee trees and how much they pay their workers. High grades can win growers higher prices, longer-term contracts and other incentives from Starbucks.

East African farmers grow about half the world’s specialty coffee, and most growers live in poverty. Producers have increasingly sought to brand their coffee in hopes of winning higher prices.