(BEDFORD) – Farmers are beginning to prepare fields for planting despite facing a downturn as grain prices fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The start of the planting season looks much better than last year’s wet spring. But farmers said corn prices per bushel have tumbled from earlier months.
New crop corn prices last week were $3.25 per bushel and soybeans were at $8.41 per bushel – From an economic outlook, it doesn’t look good.
But agriculture experts say soil conditions are good for planting, even if demand for corn and soybeans has hurt bushel prices.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2020 prospective plantings survey indicates farmers nationwide intend to plant 97 million acres of corn, 83.5 million acres of soybeans and 44.7 million acres of wheat.
The coronavirus relief law passed by Congress at the end of March set aside $23.5 billion for agriculture, including $9.5 billion specifically for specialty crop and local producers. But Wabash Valley farmers are still unsure how those federal funds will be dispersed.
