Falling prices could mean less corn in Illinois

Falling corn prices and questions about ethanol demand could lead Illinois farmers to plant fewer acres of corn this year.

Peoria County Farm Bureau manager Patrick Kirchhofer tells the Peoria Journal Star that farmers are instead taking a closer look at soybeans this year. That’s after several years of increasing corn production fueled by higher prices. Nationwide, analysts have called last year’s crop a record-breaker at more than 14 billion bushels.

But excess corn has pushed prices back down from $8 a bushel in 2012 to a current price of about $4.

Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed reducing the amount of ethanol required to be blended into the nation’s fuel.

Edwards farmer Ross Pauli worries that would hurt the farm economy.

via The Associated Press

Photo: Peoria Journal Star