Will Anhydrous Ammonia Costs Tip the Balance in the Battle for Acres?
US - With the 2007 corn harvest in the books, farmers are now turning to fall fertilizer applications. Does the amount of anhydrous ammonia (NH3) leaving Midwest cooperatives and retailers foreshadow the size of next year's crop? If so, the 2008 corn crop could be a big one.
"There's a lot of anhydrous [ammonia] going out right now," says Dave Lund, location manager of Heart of Iowa Cooperative in Nevada, Iowa. "There's not going to be much switching acres around, at least around here."
Elsewhere in the Corn Belt, anhydrous sales are big -- enough so that farmers like Agriculture Online Marketing Talk member jkaahend says, corn is surging ahead early in the battle for acres in his area of west-central Indiana.
"The local fertilizer plant is looking at a possible record amount of NH3 being applied this fall, with the combination of good corn prices and great weather for getting it applied here," jkaahend writes. "That has changed greatly in the past few weeks. The talk a month ago was more beans, to avoid the high input costs of corn."
The jump in sales have made NH3 concerns a common thread in corn country. In central Illinois, Farm Business Talk member ILStUFH has watched orders eclipse supplies at his ammonia facility, and filling those orders is only contributing to the rising costs.
Source: Agriculture Online
Elsewhere in the Corn Belt, anhydrous sales are big -- enough so that farmers like Agriculture Online Marketing Talk member jkaahend says, corn is surging ahead early in the battle for acres in his area of west-central Indiana.
"The local fertilizer plant is looking at a possible record amount of NH3 being applied this fall, with the combination of good corn prices and great weather for getting it applied here," jkaahend writes. "That has changed greatly in the past few weeks. The talk a month ago was more beans, to avoid the high input costs of corn."
The jump in sales have made NH3 concerns a common thread in corn country. In central Illinois, Farm Business Talk member ILStUFH has watched orders eclipse supplies at his ammonia facility, and filling those orders is only contributing to the rising costs.
Source: Agriculture Online