Do you think corn dictates the prices?

BlackRain75 · #1 04/04/14, 09:19 PM

If the price of corn is high so is everything else right! What are your thoughts?

DaleK · #2 04/04/14, 09:22 PM

The price of corn isn't particularly high. How are other prices?

palm farmer · #3 04/04/14, 10:24 PM

Oil predicts the price of corn, fertilizer is petrol based, tractor fuel etc! Add on top, drought or poor crops in areas of production, mix in some supply and demand as well

Johnny Dolittle · #4 04/04/14, 10:27 PM

Weather affects the amount produced nationwide .... supply and demand sets the price.

Johnny Dolittle · #5 04/04/14, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by palm farmer

Oil predicts the price of corn, fertilizer is petrol based, tractor fuel etc! Add on top, drought or poor crops in areas of production, mix in some supply and demand as well

ha... we were posting at about the same time... you are right on

palm farmer · #6 04/04/14, 10:45 PM

IMO, prices would be much better for farmers if America had not sent the peace corp out into the world and taught them all how to grow things using pesticides that are banned here...but it's government it's not supposed to work

Nimrod · #7 04/05/14, 12:13 AM

The summer before last corn was over $8 a bushel. Last summer it was about $4. There was a bit less demand from the ethanol plants because less fuel was used. The farmers switched land to corn production so there was a large supply and the price went down. I certainly didn't see a reduction in the price of food with corn or corn products in it.

idigbeets · #8 04/05/14, 05:44 AM

Corn was really cheap around here last year... organic selling for $6, non organic $4/bushel. We'll see what this year brings, more farms are planting soybeans around here right now...

bja105 · #9 04/05/14, 02:17 PM

I think the biggest cause of higher prices is the declining value of the Dollar.

BetsyK in Mich · #10 04/05/14, 03:33 PM

There are other things beyond the farm cost that effect commodity prices. Cost of fuel to transport the produce, world market demands, droughts in key corn producing states/countries, things like that. The price per bushel is determined by supply and demand world wide, now a days we have to think out of the box.

haypoint · #11 04/05/14, 03:51 PM

Cost of corn does not dictate prices. However, the price of corn is a sort of barometer of prices in general.
Lets say I wanted to grow pigs. I could secure a futures contract for 100 finished hogs. Then, I would buy a futures contract for the corn and soy I need. Then I would figure my expenses and labor. From that I know how much I can pay for feeder pigs. If the price of finished hogs is high and the price of corn low, the price of feeder pigs is likely to be high. If hog futures are low and corn is high, feeder pigs will go cheap.
Before futures contracts, the commodity prices fluctuated wildly. Now businesses and farmers are somewhat protected from boom/bust pricing, through the purchase/sale of futures contracts.