Harvest time is here and with grain markets trading lower than farmers would hope, Jake Armstrong with Cameron Grain says this may change what farmers do with the crop once it is out of the field. He says farmers may veer away from drying their 2024 corn crop.
“I don’t blame them, I wouldn’t want to pay a drying bill on 28% corn if I could help it. If it sits in the field a week or two and I picked 20% corn, that’s much better economically. And that’s kind of the sweet spot that 20 to 24 is where you get your highest yield and your biggest bang for the buck with drying,” says Armstrong. “We don’t want to wait until it’s 15% to start harvesting it. We need that water weight, it does help improve yields- but we don’t need to pick 30% corn either.”
Armstrong adds that when there is not a lot of corn to dry, elevators save on labor, equipment wear, time, and energy costs.
