Low returns expected in '19

This is turning out to be a fairly good year for farmers because of higher yields and USDA payments, but 2019 could be a different story with low returns expected.

“That is led primarily by lower soybean prices from what we have seen in the last several years,” explained Gary Schnitkey, an agricultural economist with the University of Illinois.

Growers were looking at soybean prices in the upper $9.00 range from 2015-17 and heading into 2019, we are looking at an $8.90 or $9.00 price. The lower soybean price along with corn being almost the same as it has been for the past several years makes corn more profitable than soybeans next year.

“What farmers will do about that is a pretty good question,” Schnitkey said. “Farms with corn-soybean rotations will probably want to stick with those rotations.”

Schnitkey was a speaker during last week’s cover crop tour hosted by the Vermilion Headwaters group in Fairbury.