Corn School: Cool Start, Risk of Drought Buoys Corn Prices

Opinion

A cool start delayed corn planting in the U.S., so much so that there’s a rumoured 78 million acres of soybeans in the ground down south.  A late start means the critical pollination period of the crop — a huge factor in determining yield —  into the typically hot weeks of late July. While the saying ‘rain makes grain’ is grating on some western Canadian farmers’ nerves as ponds of water sit on fields, the 2012 drought is persisting in the western part of the U.S. It’s the threat of that very hot, dry weather moving east that Moe Agostino…