Corn in trouble this year

[MtRainier]

Wonder if bourbon prices will start going up in anticipation of higher than normal corn prices going forward. I have relatives in Illinois and Minnesota that grow corn, and they've said that they don't know when they'll get good conditions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/20 ... corn-belt/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[kiwi Bruce]

Wonder if bourbon prices will start going up in anticipation of higher than normal corn prices going forward. I have relatives in Illinois and Minnesota that grow corn, and they've said that they don't know when they'll get good conditions.

And the 10% ethanol in our gas? The price could rocket if we have a real shortage.

[jog666]

I figure I will have a bit of trouble this year getting corn with all of the flooding. Feed store prices will probably go up but I Was hopping to get some from a local farmer.

Doesnt fuel always go up in the summer?

[still_stirrin]

Driving through Kentucky and Tennessee you’ll see miles and miles of corn fields flanked by tobacco fields. I wonder if Iowa and Ohio corn even goes to whiskey makers....fuel producers, of course.
ss

[shadylane]

If your going to be a farmer, Ya better like to gamble
Their getting rained out and fertilizer is more expensive.
Due to flooding, the river barges can't haul fertilizer or grain.

[jog666]

If your going to be a farmer, Ya better like to gamble.

I do but not enough to buy more land & cattle. I watched cattle prices for years & the roller coaster was to much for me. Last I heard, it wasnt to bad but with my luck, I would drop $15,000+ & when it was time to sell, I wouldnt come close to breaking even.

[Smokee]

The fields in Lancaster, Pennsylvania are full of corn. Can't say I've seen corn fields in Kansas or the mid-west but I've been amazed how well corn grows here since I moved here in '96. It's already 4' and there's acre upon acre planted this year. I get all my corn local, I found a fella that works at a processing plant. He gives me a 50 pound sack for $25, it's beautiful non-gmo flaked maize. Finding him has been a godsend.

[zapata]

Yeah, the old saying "knee high by the fourth of July" is a pretty slow year for my area too. Plenty of tall corn around.
I also doubt the bourbon market will react quickly to a single year, they ain't selling what they makin for another few years, and are just now sellin' the corn they bought years ago.

[NZChris]

Jim Beam just burned down a couple of rickhouses of new make, so they have some catching up to do if they want to keep their profits up in the next few years.

[LWTCS]

I had to take a road trip this summer through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois.
Without a real reference for how much corn has been typically grown, I can say that I've never seen so much corn as I did this past June.

South Carolina grows really nice corn, but the corn fields are little patches compared to the scale of corn grown in Kentucky or Illinois.

Adam Stumpf of Stumpy's distilling set at the edge of a corn field that's been in his family since the 1800s.
In doing the math (for example) a measure of corn that yields $4 gross profit ( pre tax) sold as corn will yield $300+ gross ( pre tax) profit sold as bourbon if you have enough of a processing investment to optimally exploit economy of scale and you own your land.

I find it almost unbelievable that we don't see more farm distilleries at the edge of the crop feild.

[still_stirrin]

...I find it almost unbelievable that we don't see more farm distilleries at the edge of the crop feild (sp)...

And package liquor stores on every street corner...

Making it is one thing, but it’s got to be sold to bring in the revenue. If production were to dramatically increase, then the excess would drive the “price per gallon” down and the farmers would be just as poor....only over-capitalized 10 fold.

Hmmmm, I wonder how this would affect the “backwoods distillers” who populate the hills.
ss

[Single Malt Yinzer]

Not a good time to be a farmer: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKCN1U618F" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[kakashi]

Jim Beam just burned down a couple of rickhouses of new make, so they have some catching up to do if they want to keep their profits up in the next few years.

It'll all be insured and not likely to affect their bottom line. Cynics might even say that fire is a good way to get rid of a bad batch and turn that into cash instead

[LWTCS]

Jim Beam just burned down a couple of rickhouses of new make, so they have some catching up to do if they want to keep their profits up in the next few years.

It'll all be insured and not likely to affect their bottom line. Cynics might even say that fire is a good way to get rid of a bad batch and turn that into cash instead

Dunno about "all". Not sure what company would under right that policy given all of the variables ( like a 100 year old rickhouse filled with a very flammable fuel source). I would think it would be cheaper to self insure? I seriously doubt they'll collect more than the production cost associated with the volume loss.
I'm probably wrong. Usually am.

[gsugg]

MTRain,

What's amazing is that while the Midwest is dealing with that, here in NC we can't get enough rain to keep it alive. About 90% of the corn crop here is barely knee high and already drying in the fields like it's supposed to do in the fall. It won't make enough corn to pay for picking it. My dad used to say if you didn't get corn within a week or so of the tassel putting out (on top that gives it the pollination), it won't make anything.

[Sunshineer]

I have 10 acres of bloody butcher corn planted in north central Oklahoma that just great should be a bumper crop on our first try.

[goose eye]

Call them federal crop farmers.
That fed insurance cover cost not profit but you
plant 13 lbs to the acre then skip bull dog then add in hard summers an there you
have it.



So I'm tole

[jog666]

Ive either run into or done some work for several farmers over the years that have been paid to NOT harvest by the gov. Makes no since what so ever to me other than to have that much more control over us. Hell, if the gov would pay me to not harvest/sell my crop like normal, I would do it in a heart beat & keep the crop for the animals or other hobbies. Pigs sure do like whole stacks of corn with ears on it.

[Sunshineer]

You have no idea how much they pay you to not plant my friends are being paid right now not to farm 800 acres we called mine 10 acres of bloody butcher red dent corn a deer plot to get around that. But not for the electric fence around it the deer would have gotten more then me. Once we pick it the deer can have the stalks. I go up to the farm every hunting season and shoot six for the freezer. That's the legal limit in Oklahoma so no poacher post. Bought my lifetime hunting license for three hundred dollars when I lived there.

[bilgriss]

Prior to corn being subsidized for ethanol, almost 80% of corn sold in the US was fed to cattle, approximately 10 pounds per pound of beef sold. These days, there's far more corn in the average year (not this one) but over half goes to fuel production. It's a really interesting trend to see much agriculture not being used for food at all. I have no idea what percentage overall gets used for bourbon production, or what percentage of that ships from the midwest, but there's going to be some major shifts in the supply chain.

[Sunshineer]

It did and continues to inflate the price of beef as more and more farmers switch to fuel corn instead of feed corn.

[shadylane]

It did and continues to inflate the price of beef as more and more farmers switch to fuel corn instead of feed corn.

Yellow dented corn is used for both feed and fuel production
Spent grains from alcohol production is also for animal feed
On a side note, if it doesn't stop raining here
Mold is going to be another problem for the farmers to deal with

[One Eyed Ross]

Whisky should not be made from corn.... (I know, I know, but I do prefer an all barley or rye drink)....