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World Watching U.S. Corn Crop
Published Wednesday, May 07, 2008 at 04:54 AM
Eyes from around the world are focused on United States corn farmers. They are watching to see how well spring planting goes here. If planting gets bogged down then prices are likely to sky-rocket as a bad planting season indicates the possibility of a poor harvest season and fewer crops to harvest. But if all the intended acreage gets planted to corn on time, then an ample supply of corn will be available for feeding livestock and producing energy.

USDA, this week, reported about 27 percent of the U.S. corn crop was seeded. Planting progress still remains 32 percent behind the five year average. But, it’s still early. U.S. corn farmers planted 17 percent of their crop last week. As Simon Roberts, head of agricultural commodities at Australia and New Zealand banking Group Ltd, put it, - there is the general perception that like last year, if there are any breaks in the weather you'll see rapid planting progress.

The yield potential for corn declines unless seeds are sown before the end of April in the southern Midwest or by the middle of May in the rest of the region. This is based on the fact corn plants need to pollinate before the arrival of hot summer weather. Planting of soybeans is just beginning.

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