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Ag economist: $6 corn isn’t out of reach as harvest begins

An ag economist says he’s not ruling out the possibility of $6 corn as harvest gets underway.

Ben Brown with University of Missouri Extension tells Brownfield the corn market has been relatively strong the last few weeks.

“We’d probably need to see a little more bullish support to get to $6, but it’s certainly possible,” says Brown. “We did breakthrough some technical resistance at the end of August when we look at the month over month numbers.”

Corn harvest is happening in parts of Missouri, and Brown says the corn yield varies widely: from 160 to 250 bushels/acre.

“That’s a 90 to 100 bushel swing in the same area, due to a number of factors,” says Brown. “What I’m trying to do now is identify some patterns. This year, the pattern seems to be if you have a well-drained field through tilage or you have a field that naturally drains well, it’s a key indicator of stronger yields.”

Brown says he expects the USDA to lower both corn and soybean yield estimates in September, as the agency factors in objective field data into its estimates.

Brown says some farmers have been making sales ahead of and during harvest.

“I think we are selling into this rally. I would certainly hope producers would reward themselves, but I do also know there’s a psychological barrier that when corn is rallying, why sell now when it could be higher tomorrow?”

Brown says storage decisions should be based on each farm’s costs, and given what’s happened so far, there could be opportunities to capture the carry storing corn.