Kentucky Corn and Soybean Farmers Optimistic About 2021 Markets

Apr 05, 2021

By Rhonda Miller

Spring is casting its welcome sense of hope across the Bluegrass State, especially among farmers.

A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows Kentucky farmers intend to plant more acres in corn and soybeans this year than in 2020.

The USDA Prospective Plantings report found Kentucky farmers anticipating 1,550,000 acres of corn this spring. That’s 60,000 more acres than the previous year.

And farmers are preparing to plant about 100,000 more acres of soybeans this year, compared to last year.

David Knopf is regional director of the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, based in Louisville. He said prices for both crops this year look much better than 2020.

“The situation last year going into planting season, in terms of the possible revenue from crops, was very dismal," said Knopf. "Farmers were looking at either just break even kinds of prices or prices that would not even support the cost of producing the commodities.”

Knopf said, for example, corn went from about $3.50 a bushel at this time last year, to now about $5.50 a bushel.

He said international trade makes this a promising year for Kentucky agricultural products.

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Video: What Happens When Pigs Adapt to High Soybean Meal Diets? - Gustavo Lima

In this special rerun episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Gustavo Lima, PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University, discusses how grow-finish pigs respond to high soybean meal diets. He explains the initial drop in feed intake, changes in backfat, later adaptation, energy efficiency, amino acid utilization, and the rise in nitrogen excretion at higher inclusion levels. Listen now on all major platforms!

Click here to read the full research article: https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/...

“Once they got adapted to the diet, they can handle higher levels of inclusion of soybean meal.”

Meet the guest: Gustavo Lima / gustavo-lima-a9867127 is a PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University whose work focuses on swine nutrition, ingredient characterization, energy metabolism, caloric efficiency, and applied data analysis. With more than 15 years of experience in swine production across Latin America, Gustavo also brings expertise in environmental control, performance evaluation, barn ventilation, and grow-finish housing. Learn more from Gustavo Lima on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.