Ethanol Surge Expected to Hike Corn, Feed Prices

By Ryan Robinson

But no big bump seen in production on farms here.

U.S. farmers may plant more corn this spring than in any year since the 1940s, in part to help fuel the growing ethanol industry.

But those involved in the industry say local farmers won’t plant much more corn this year.

"I’ve not seen a big bump in sales," said Earl Rohrer of P.L. Rohrer & Brother in Smoketown, where many farmers buy crop seed.

Many Garden Spot farmers grow hay, and corn for silage, to feed their livestock. On average, their farms are just under 80 acres, so they don’t have the fields for growing much extra corn for grain or ethanol.

Ethanol’s consumption of corn nationally is expected to continue to inflate the price of corn, and therefore, animal feed.

That would affect most local farmers adversely, because after the feed they get from their own corn runs out each year, they have to buy what they need.

"Lancaster is a corn-deficit county," said county Penn State Extension Director Leon Ressler.

The price of corn has skyrocketed to about $3.70 a bushel nationally, he said. That’s up from $2.50 a bushel last summer and $2 a few years ago.

Farmers here pay an extra 50 cents a bushel to transport corn from the Midwest, Ressler added.

They use it to help produce and sell nearly $1 billion worth of milk, beef, pork, chicken, eggs and other farm products each year. Some federal farm economists have warned that high feed prices could mean that consumers will have to pay more for those products.

Farmers intend to plant more than 90 million acres of corn this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

If weather and other factors allow a large crop to be harvested at a decent yield this fall, the price of corn could come down, Ressler said. But more ethanol-manufacturing plants generally will apply upward pressure on the price of corn.

"The upside potential price (of corn due to ethanol) is greater than the downside," he said.

Farmers have another concern: Recent cool, wet weather has delayed planting.

Ressler said that as of April 26, virtually no corn was planted in the county. Usually, planting kicks into high gear around April 15 so farmers can finish by about May 10.

"You are losing yield each week after that," Ressler said.

So each dry day in the next few weeks is a good day for farmers.

Ressler said the wet weather also may mean sweet corn won’t be widely available quite as early as usual this year.

Millersville University Meteorologist Eric Horst said some "hit- or-miss" showers today and tonight are expected to end by dawn on Wednesday. Then it will be dry for the next six or seven days in a row.

"We’re changing to a warmer, dryer pattern," he said today.

Rohrer said ethanol has not caused a shortage locally in the availability of corn seed.

The cost of seed is a little higher than last year, but Rohrer attributed that to its higher quality, not any supply shortage.

CONTACT US: rrobinson@LNPnews.com or 481-6032