Page 4 2024 Fall Farm Outlook Lincoln Daily News Oct 2024 As usual, the three major factors in the farming arena are weather, prices, and yields. The weather provided a bit of a challenge earlier this year to get things done. April was very wet, with the Lincoln Weather Station recording over 6.5 inches for the month. After early May, things turned much drier allowing for field work and planting to be completed in a very short time frame. After a dry period for much of June, a damp period through early August provided very good weather for pollinating and filling corn and setting and filling pods for soybeans. A warm and dry period from late August through mid-October provided great conditions for crops to mature and then dry down. This has allowed for a good harvest pace on good crops. Prices for corn and soybeans have been a major area of concern. Fall cash prices are falling short of projections needed for breakeven according the Illinois Crop Budgets publication from Paulson, Schnitkey, Zwilling, and Zulauf. The 2024 projections are for $4.71 per bushel corn and $11.31 per bushel for soybeans. Many factors go into these figures including a supposed 240-bushel corn yield and 77 for soybeans, direct costs for corn of $488 and $244 for soybeans, also power and overhead costs, then the land cost of 359 per acre. All-together, the projections show estimated losses of $161 per acre for corn and $53 for soybeans. There are some ways to minimize those losses such as living off of depreciation for a short time, having exceptional luck on things such as repair costs, having relatively low interest costs, and other 2024 Growing season better than expected in some areas, worse than hoped for in others factors including lower land costs per acre on average. The other part of the equation is yield. This could also temporarily help reduce losses or even work toward turning a profit. Early yield reports were very good, so there will be producers who have crop yield averages above those used for the projections. The crop budgets are based on presumptions and averages, and every producer’s situation is different and will have individual results. Just remember great yields this year may put pressure on prices next year as well. Many topics in natural resources continue in the rural areas as well. The continued interest in growing wind and solar power in our area is probably the preeminent issue. Several smaller solar projects are in various planning and approval processes, as are a few approved wind energy projects set to begin work shortly. Carbon sequestration wells and pipelines seem to be on a moratorium statewide for now. Waters of the United States (WOTUS) also continues to be a very hot topic in Rural America. The interpretation of the rules regarding WOTUS will be very dependent on election results and the corresponding appointments of agency personnel. Technology continues to evolve in agriculture. Equipment, sampling, application, and analysis all get wrapped up in some packages available to producers and ag industry personnel. Examples would include variable Continued --
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