www.WATTpoultry.com
SEPTEMBER 2008 volume 113 number 9
Optimistic projections for 2008
corn and soy harvests 1
Industry News 4
Electrical retrofit can save money 6
Producers need to react to market changes 10
Caged egg production is friendly to the environment 12
Comparison of welfare standards for aviary systems 14
Calendar 17
Marketplace 18
Optimistic projections for 2008
corn and soy harvests
By Dr. Simon Shane, Editor
The USDA released encouraging
updated projections for the 2008
harvests of corn and soybeans in
mid-August. Farmers expect to harvest
79.2 million acres of corn with an anticipated yield of 155 bushels per acre
contributing to a near record crop of
12. 2 billion bushels. Soybeans will be
harvested from 73.3 million acres with
an average yield of 40.5 bushels per
acre contributing to a crop of 2. 9 billion bushels (Table 1-page 3).
The updated forecast is based on a
survey of nearly 30,000 producers during the period July 23-August 6. There
has been considerable concern over the
magnitude of the 2008 corn crop as the
350,000 acres planted was 7 percent
lower than in 2007. Planting was delayed by heavy rains and development
was retarded by cool temperatures during March and April.
U.S. CORN AND SOYBEAN PRODUCTION
14.00
13.00
12.00
11.00
10.00
9.00
8.00 Corn Soybean
7.00
6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Billion bushels
Source:USDA
USDA figures indicate an inverse relationship between the production of corn and
soybean crops.
Flooding adds to concerns
The situation was exacerbated by
prolonged precipitation and flooding in
the Upper Mississippi valley and Eastern corn belt through the second week
of June. Fortunately warmer weather
returned and rainfall was appropriate
to crop development.
As of August 3, 66 percent of corn
was rated in the good-to-excellent range
in the 18 major corn-producing states.
The crop is lagging in development in
some areas as determined by the attainment of the silking and dough stages
respectively. This does create some
concern for the possibility of an early
frost which would lower yield from the
current forecast. Industry commentators have however questioned the validity of the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) projections
which they regard as optimistic.
Favorable prices for soybeans per-
suaded many farmers to increase the
area planted to this crop by almost 18
percent compared to 2007.
Impact on soybean crop
As with corn, sowing of soybeans
was impacted by wet and cool weather
in April. By the beginning of June,
70 percent of the intended acreage of
