Ethanol demand key to grain prices in 2010, U of I economist says

SJ-R.com (State Journal-Register, Springfield, IL)
By TIM LANDIS (tim.landis@sj-r.com)
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Feb 01, 2010 @ 11:30 PM

Demand for ethanol probably will be the deciding factor for prices and planting this spring, a University of Illinois farm economist said Monday.

Both corn and soybean prices have fallen in the last three weeks, since the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a larger corn harvest than expected in 2009 and in anticipation of a “monster” soybean crop in Brazil, said Darrel Good.

“The challenge for some is going to be if they want to plant corn where they had corn last year,” Good said, noting that a wet spring and fall resulted in one of the latest harvests in decades last year.

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