• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Illinois Farmers Feeling Drought, Katrina

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 00:00 CDT

Sep. 20--NORMAL -- Illinois farmers may be the next group in need of hurricane relief.

Officials in Washington and Springfield are considering plans to assist producers who, having battled drought all summer, are now feeling the impact of Hurricane Katrina on river transportation.

The many problems suffered by New Orleans, a port critical to river transportation through the Midwest, has dealt farmers another blow in getting their grain to market.

"The vast majority of grain elevators are up and running but there are still navigation issues in the lower Mississippi River (by New Orleans)," said Rick Whitacre, an agricultural economist at Illinois State University in Normal. The disruption of barge traffic on the Mississippi River in the Gulf Coast region accounted for a drop in prices for Illinois corn and soybeans that are shipped down river to be loaded on ocean-going freighters.

"The (Gulf) area is slowly coming back," he said.

Unfortunately grain prices continue to lag, said Whitacre. "We charted prices at seven grain elevators along the river before Katrina hit and the average price for corn was $1.96 a bushel," he said. That price dropped to $1.71 the week after Katrina hit, said Whitacre, adding that prices have continued to drop. "Last week it was $1.59 a bushel," he said.

While federal hurricane and drought relief is being considered by Congress, legislators in Illinois also want to help farmers.

"There may be more damage done by this storm right here at home," said State Sen. Chris Lauzen, R-Aurora, noting that drought relief meetings are planned across the state. Among aspects of the relief plan are sales tax exemptions and the expansion of state loan programs, said Lauzen.

Farmers are contending with a year that continues to deteriorate, said Whitacre. "Not only are prices down but many central Illinois (corn) farmers are getting 30 to 40 bushels an acre less than last year," he said.

Forty-eight percent of the state's corn crop was rated poor or very poor, according to Monday's crop report from the Illinois Agricultural Statistics Service.

"Agriculture is an energy-intensive industry so with higher fuel and chemical costs, it's been a challenging year for farmers," said Whitacre.

-----

To see more of the Journal Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.PJStar.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, Journal Star, Peoria, Ill.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Journal Star

More News in this Category