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BY NEIL MELANCON
FB News Staff Writer
WISNER, LA - Unprecedented yields,
favorable weather and fundamental market
conditions have come together to make the
perfect storm for Louisiana corn growers.
With many farmers recording yields of
200-plus per acre, this year’s corn harvest
could be the largest and most memorable
on record.
“It’s hard to believe all this corn is the result
of increased demand for ethanol,” said David
Bollich, grain specialist with the Louisiana
Farm Bureau Marketing Association. “It’s
literally been a gold rush at proportions we
rarely see in a farm commodity.”
Louisiana’s farmers planted a record 730,000
acres of corn this year. It may be the largest
ever and rivals the 1996 crop that saw grain
bins popping up all over the state. And if you
doubt the volume of corn coming out of the field,
you need drive no further than Wisner, La. where
a mountain of corn is being built, as grain trucks
empty their contents on the ground.
“People around here jokingly call it ‘Mount Wisner,’” said Kevin Harper, manager of the UAP
grain elevator in Wisner. “If it were covered in snow you could definitely ski it. We’ve been
working around the clock and it just keeps getting bigger. The trucks just keep coming.”
In addition to storing corn in local elevators, which reached full capacity just one week into
the harvest, the crop is being piled up in places once reserved for other Louisiana crops.
“We’ve got at least three cotton warehouses we’ve rented to store corn,” said Noble
Ellington, owner of Ellington Cotton. “We’re also using large bags that can hold 8,000
bushels apiece. The weather and the prices have been so good for us this season, we’re
just hoping we can keep this corn until it sells.”
In addition to mountains and seam-
bursting grain bins, a new 8,000-
bushel plastic bagging system also
is being used to store the crop.
“Between the bins, the bags, the
cotton warehouses and the mountain,
we’re just awash in corn,” Ellington said.
This year’s crop is so big, in fact,
that no amount of planning could
have contained it, according to Bollich.
“Farmers and ag industry personnel
anticipated a large showing for corn,
given the amount of demand generated
nationally by ethanol, but their efforts to
stem the tide simply weren’t enough,”
Bollich said.
Ethanol demand is up more than
3 billion gallons this year, compared
to 2006. Experts say all the corn this
year could be used to produce as much
as 10 billion gallons for consumption
over the next six months.
“While most of the grain in Louisiana goes to feed, an ethanol plant in Vicksburg and one in
Tallulah are expected to come online as early as spring of 2008, all of which contributes to
the higher price of grain,” Bollich continued. “All the fundamentals are in place to support
grain prices through 2008. Of course, the price will fluctuate with fund traders coming in and
out of the market, but demand, both domestically and in our export market looks strong.”
Bollich said the high price for corn is affecting wheat and soybeans, which also are seeing
record prices and price gains.
“If demand runs high and beans run short, we could see $10 or even $15 (per bushel)
soybeans,” Bollich said. “It’s dependent upon acreage and how much land opens up from
the CRP or other programs, but eventually, we’ll only be able to grow so much.”
Meanwhile, as Ellington surveys the new “corn topography” and the endless line of trucks
rolling up, he wonders what next year will bring, considering the yields he’s been hearing
about.
“I’ve talked to farmers who are cutting 200 or even 220 bushels per acre,” he said. “I haven’
t heard of anything less than 150. This is going to make up for some bad years we’ve had
and I hope it keeps up.”
Bill Sherman/FB News
Trucks full of corn are arriving at mills throughout the state 24 hours a day trying
to keep up with the 2007 corn harvest. Mill managers are seeing an
unprecendented amount of corn filling grain bins, plastic bags and even cotton
warehouses.
to keep up with the 2007 corn harvest. Mill managers are seeing an
unprecendented amount of corn filling grain bins, plastic bags and even cotton
warehouses.
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BOUNTIFUL LOUISIANA CORN SETS YIELD RECORDS
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