Just east of Temple in the small community of Zabcikville, seed dealer Glenn Marek said Bell County was corn country long before Congress passed an energy bill demanding more alternative fuel production. But farmers aren’t rushing to plant more corn because prices for other crops are also high, including wheat, which is a popular rotational crop.
“We were heavy in corn anyway,” Marek said. “You’re probably going to see a little less corn and a little more wheat. Wheat prices are up significantly. The high wheat prices make it more attractive and most farmers would like to rotate anyway.”
Agriculture professionals across the county say although it might look like local corn farmers are in for a banner year, it isn’t necessarily true. Escalating input costs - diesel fuel and fertilizer - have offset the higher prices they may reap for their crops come harvest time.
Richard Cortese is a district director for Texas Farm Bureau. He covers 16 Central Texas counties. He said the politics of ethanol is “the emotional issue of the minute,” but he doesn’t foresee a major change in which farmers rush to plant more corn.
“Not many people have changed their operations dramatically. If anything, you might see less corn planted,” Cortese said. “There’s an awful lot of wheat planted because we didn’t get wheat planted last year. Wheat prices are good.”
Cortese farms about 600 to 700 acres, and helps his father with 1,100 acres, which will be mostly corn with some oats.
Just east of Temple, near the small community of Oscar, Ed Coufal, 71, plans to plant several hundred acres in corn at the farm he grew up on. Despite rain, snow, and a tractor blowout that set his planting schedule back several days, he’s upbeat about the corn market, but wants to diversify, possibly planting a little cotton for the first time in several years.
“We’re expecting a good year,” Coufal said. “We’re looking at all the options of what contracts we can get, and seed availability.”
Although ethanol may be partially responsible for higher corn products, Bell County corn will likely be used for animal feed.
One local corn buyer, Jupe Feeds in Temple, uses corn in 40 different feed products it produces at a Temple mill.
Mike Bowles, Jupe Feeds sales representative, said he is getting negative feedback over high prices from his customers. Almost every product Jupe produces - horse, cattle, goat, sheep, poultry, even bird and fish food - has corn in it. He says high corn prices are squeezing rural folks who like to keep several animals on hand.
But it’s not just corn that is going up, Bowles said, commodity prices are up across the board.
“All protein sources and grain sources are at a record high,” Bowles said. “It’s a big chain, a lot of links that are tied together.”
Bowles said he hasn’t seen commodity prices for corn, milo and wheat this high in more than a decade, since the 1996 drought.
