Will Yields Continue To Increase Into The Future?

 

By the year 2050, there will be 9.8 billion people on earth to feed.

 

That from Kurt Ahrens, founder of market analysis company Grainbot, who was a speaker this week at the Grain World Conference in Winnipeg.

 

Ahrens talked about the importance of storage going forward.

 

"I think storage is going to out-yield farmland investment to a decent degree, in the right parts of the world," he said. "I think that's going to be in most parts of the world. I believe that there's going to be a lot of carry in the market in terms of wheat. Corn and beans, I think there's going to be a bit of a carry, but if you're in wheat I think you certainly want to have plenty of storage on hand. It's going to be tough to make a profit growing wheat here in the next few years potentially, but you're going to make a lot of money on the storage if that's the case."

 

He expects yields in corn, wheat, and soybeans to increase by about one per cent per year by the year 2050. There are no biological walls that Ahrens can see that would slow down this process.