Increases in prices and price competitiveness over several months have caused some farmers to shift their 2025 planting plans by turning soybean acres into corn. However, in west central Illinois, this may not be the case. Knox County farmer Grant Strom shares that market conditions did not impact his planting decisions.
“I made the decisions last year for what we’re going to do, and I can’t say the market has really changed my mind in a great regard, because I think there’s going to be opportunities in both commodities- corn and soybeans,” says Strom. “I know it looks kind of gloomy right now, but I don’t think it would take a lot to have a short-term supply shock, whether it’s soybean acres getting too low, any sort of weather event.”
Strom adds the problem lies in lower corn demand in a competitive worldwide corn market.