Rain delays, weed pressures continue to strain spring planting

Jeff Caldwell
Agriculture Online Multimedia Editor

5/21/2010, 2:02 PM CDT

0517sprout

Earlier this spring, the dust was flying. A lot of corn acres were planted, leaving many farmers to feel optimistic about a possible early completion to planting and, later on, an early harvest.

Some got their corn and soybeans planted. Then, the rain started falling and a lot of farmers were stalled after the quick start. So, many of those who got started early are still waiting to wrap up spring planting. Then, there are those who will need to replant many of those early-planted acres because of the cool, wet conditions.

Long story short: It hasn’t been the quick, easy planting season it looked like it would be a month ago. And, the progress that has been made has varied widely in the last few weeks.
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“My area of southwest lower Michigan and extreme northern Indiana is mostly done with planting corn and beans. If one drives about a half hour south of here, it’s very wet. Some larger farmers I spoke with in northwest Ohio have 0% corn planting done as of today,” Agriculture.com Marketing Talk member BKsandFarmer said Thursday. “The ones that have gotten some planting done may end up replanting some of that acrerage. Not all of the corn belt has seen record pace, if the rain misses this region planting will be in full swing again.”

“I haven’t started yet due to wet conditions since the 23rd of April,” adds Marketing Talk member SD455 of his area of northeastern Indiana. “Most of the 2,000+ acre farmers have about 10% planted and plan on replanting most of it.”

This creates challenges on many fronts for some farmers moving forward: first, get the crop planted. Then, if acres already in the ground have been frozen or flooded out, get them replanted. For the latter job, even if your weather hasn’t seemed ideal and your corn acres aren’t looking the greatest right now, don’t assume that means you’re robbing yourself from yield potential.

“We know that clear and visible negatives such as poor stands, uncorrected nutrient deficiency, or heavy weed competition will usually not result in high yields, but the effects of clear and visible positives at this point in the season are much less certain…Growth is usually fairly slow during early vegetative stages, and we tend to project weather that we don’t like as also being poor for corn,” says University of Illinois Extension agronomist Emerson Nafziger. “With luck, the crop will look better and be growing rapidly by early June in most fields. If the weather into June is good, then we’ll forget the slow growth were seeing now and start to look forward to having a good crop canopy in place and a good start to pollination by early July.”

A third source for potential grief at this point is weed control. Just because your corn and beans may not be in the ground — or will be replanted — doesn’t mean the weeds are taking similar pause. That both compounds the challenge of getting herbicide applied on fields in varying stages of development.

“Because of the recent rains, growers may be facing a wide range of herbicide application challenges. Some probably put herbicides on early with the intention to plant and didn’t get the corn in the ground fast enough. That herbicide is now running out and won’t give them the four to six weeks of control needed after planting,” says Ohio State University Extension weed specialist Mark Loux. “Throw down some additional residual herbicide at the time of planting.”

But, longer-term residual control isn’t your only problem if you’re upside-down with your herbicide applications, Loux adds. If weeds are already poking through and your corn’s not (or in the ground, for that matter), don’t be afraid to carefully change what you spray.

“You have to come up with the right concoction and not injure corn. What kind of mix will control what’s out there that has emerged? What adjuvants can be used? Can the mixture be applied on two-leaf corn? Five-leaf corn? Growers can get guidelines from dealers in those situations,” says Loux. “An early post-emergence application of foliar plus residual herbicides can be just as effective at preventing yield loss due to weed interference, compared with a program consisting of sequential applications of pre-emergence and post-emergence herbicides.”

May 5 (Bloomberg) — China, the world’s second-biggest corn consumer, sold most of the grain on offer in a series of auctions around the nation yesterday, indicating increasing concern that there may be a shortage.

The state reserves sold 1.22 million metric tons, about 88 percent of the 1.39 million tons offered, according to data on the website of the National Grain & Oil Trade Center late yesterday. Auctions in top producing regions sold all the supply offered, as in the previous three sales, the data showed.

China in recent years has bought corn in producing areas and sold the stockpiles during the year to control prices. The fourth series of auctions held this year attracted significant interest on speculation output last year was less than officially reported because of a drought.

“The government only has about 13 million tons of corn on hand, so they probably can’t keep selling at this rapid pace beyond June,” said Yu Xiaomeng, analyst at researcher Shennong Net in Beijing. “We expect shortages will occur” and prices increase because of either a transport bottleneck or lower output, Yu said.

Auctions in Heilongjiang and Jilin, the top two producers, sold 801,000 tons. The amount offered was 11,800 tons more than last week and average prices were 3 yuan a ton higher, the China National Grain & Oils Information Center commented in an e- mailed report today.

Demand Indications

The price increase may not be a clear indication of the supply situation because the qualities sold varied, Yu said. In reality, the government has taken other measures to curtail speculation and hoarding, such as restricting buyers’ funding and administrative curbs, she said.

Corn for September delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 5 yuan, or 0.3 percent, from the previous settlement price to 1,925 yuan ($282) a ton. The most active futures have gained 11 percent in the past six months on growing concern about supply shortages.

Separately, under a so-called inter-province stockpile rotation scheme, 586,500 tons were offered in 10 other provinces, including Guangdong and Shandong, the top two consuming regions, according to the National Grain & Oil Trade Center. Shandong sold 96 percent of the 218,500 tons tendered, while Guangdong and Shanghai sold the entire amount, the center said.

Agrimoney.com – http://www.agrimoney.com/news/news.php?id=1626
World corn stocks to fall, despite record harvest
By Agrimoney.com – Published 22/04/2010

Stronger demand for corn from ethanol plants and livestock farmers will reduce world stocks of the grain to their lowest in three years, despite a record harvest.

World corn production will rise by 6m tonnes to 809m tonnes in 2010-11, helped by higher plantings in the Americas and the Black Sea states, the International Grains Council said.

“Global yields may not match last year’s record,” the intergovernmental group added, in a report revealing its first corn forecasts for the marketing year.

However, demand will rise faster, by 13m tonnes to a record 818m tonnes, lifted by rises in corn use both as an animal feed and as a raw material for bioethanol plants.

Rival feed crops

The shortfall in production, for a second successive year, will depress inventories by 8m tonnes to their lowest since 2007-08.

IGC corn forecasts, 2010-11 (year-on-year change)

Production: 809m tonnes (+0.7%)

Consumption: 818m tonnes (+1.6%)

Year end stocks: 140m tonnes (-5.4%)

Source: USDA attache report
However, the IGC flagged challenges to its forecast from the use of other crops by livestock farmers, noting that “large availabilities of distillers dried grains and high-protein oilseed meals could restrain maize incorporations”.

It also noted that its forecast of a rise of 8m tonnes to 214m tonnes in use of corn by biofuels plants represented the smallest growth rate in a decade.

‘Stressed by heat’

For wheat, the council noted a series of challenges to production in 2010-11, including conditions in North African countries which were “not as favourable as last year”, when strong harvests allowed the region to cut its reliance on foreign grain.

IGC wheat forecasts, 2010-11 (year-on-year change)

Production: 658m tonnes (-2.6%)

Consumption: 654m tonnes (+1.4%)

Year end stocks: 199m tonnes (+1.5%)

Source: USDA attache report
Crops in India, the second largest producing country, had been “stressed by heat”, while in the US, spring plantings may be limited by the “expected great profitability of winter crops”.

Nonetheless, the IGC kept its forecast for world wheat production unchanged at 658m tonnes, representing a decline of 17m tonnes year on year.

With consumption expected at 654m tonnes, world stocks would rise for a third successive season, to a nine-year high of 199m tonnes.

Informa forecasts

The report came shortly before Informa Economics, the analysis group, forecast that America, the world’s biggest corn producer, would achieve a record corn harvest this year, narrowly beating last year’s 13.1bn-bushel crop.

The soybean harvest would come in at 3.342bn bushels, 17m bushels behind last year’s production, with cotton output jumping by 30% to 15.9m bales.