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Organic farmers tight on feed after spring challenges

A new report says nearly 30 percent of organic crop farmers are expected to file for prevent plant and organic livestock producers will feel the effects.

“Where we’re seeing the primary cuts from prevent plant is going to be in organic corn acres.”    

Ag economist Ryan Koory with Mercaris tells Brownfield reduced organic corn acres, combined with smaller winter wheat and alfalfa crops, is expected to pressure feed supplies.

“With this winter and this spring being so wet and cold, we’ve had a significant loss of winter wheat and winter alfalfa production—the feed situation has tightened.”

He says while more farmers could file prevent plant, they need to harvest summer cover crops for feed.

“It’s not like the conventional sector where you can just pull in wheat or hay from wherever you produced it, they’re production is fairly concentrated in specific regions and so when that region gets impacted, it gets very hard to find solutions to that feed situation.”    

Koory expects supplies to be rationed this year and increased organic soybeans acres to boomerang back as increased organic corn acres in 2020.