The April World Supply and Demand report out today from USDA lowers ending stocks for corn, wheat and soybeans more than most analysts were expecting.
Corn ending stocks were cut by 40 million bushels “as higher expected feed and residual use more than offsets a reduction in food, seed and industrial use.”
Feed and residual use is raised 50 million bushels as March 1 stocks indicated higher-than-expected disappearance during the December-February quarter. Food, seed, and industrial use is lowered 10 million bushels with lower projected use for starch (other than for fuel and beverage alcohol) more than offsetting higher expected use for sweeteners.
The 2008/09 season-average farm price for corn is projected at $4.00 to $4.40 per bushel, up 10 cents on both ends of the range. This compares with the 2007/08 record of $4.20 per bushel.
Farm Foundation hosted another segment in their “Transition To A Bio Economy” conference series last week in Washington DC, focusing this time on “Global Trade and Policy Issues.” There were a number of very interesting presentations made at the conference, but here is just a sampling that provided commentary relevant to corn.
Seth Meyer with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) discussed how biofuels policies are affecting commodity prices, trade and exports. “I think the last couple of years of proved that there are a lot of moving parts here, there are a lot of other things affecting export volume,” Meyer says. “It’s important to put biofuels policies in context.”
He noted that it’s difficult to predict the future for biofuels policy and how it might impact producers. “Things are very much in flux,” said Meyers. “There’s potentially a lot of policy risk for producers.”
Chuck Zimmerman interviewed Seth at the conference:
Another interesting presentation at the conference had to do with the impact of biofuels policy on global poverty.
Tom Hertel of Purdue University says they conducted an international study of 16 developing countries and the impact of biofuels production on the poverty level and found that “it’s a very complex issue” because higher food prices may have a greater or lesser impact depending on whether the poverty is located in more urban or rural areas. Since more poor live in rural areas, when agricultural prices are higher, they can actually benefit from higher returns.
You can listen to an interview with Tom here:
More coverage from the Farm Foundation conference can be found here on Agwired.com.
Nebraska came out on top in the Happiness Index, which used unemployment figures, foreclosures and non-mortgage debt to determine a state’s overall financial well being.
Ethanol production got some of the credit for Nebraska’s happiness in a Good Morning America story aired on Monday morning, which noted that Nebraska’s “ethanol plants, in particular, have flourished and the ongoing effort to grow industry has enabled people who lose jobs to find new ones relatively easily.”
Two other Corn Belt states ranked second and third according to the index – Iowa and Kansas – and MainStreet.com explains that people in the Midwest tend to live more within their means, unlike people on the coasts. The unhappiest states are mainly on the east or west coast – Rhode Island, Nevada, California, Florida, and Oregon.
April showers may bring May flowers, but April snow storms bring delays for baseball fans and farmers.
Weather over the weekend across the corn belt was far from spring-like, with a storm system that brought strong winds and heavy snow to many areas that should be getting ready for spring planting.
The National Weather Service reported up to 16 inches of snow in Western Nebraska and 7-10 inches in parts of Iowa, with additional snow in the Dakotas and Minnesota. Monday morning, up to 7 inches of snow fell on Michigan and about four inches in northern Indiana. Frost and freeze warnings were in effect as far south as northern Texas and east to North Carolina. In Alabama, National Weather Service meteorologists have posted freeze watches and warnings for late Monday and snow showers are forecast for Georgia.
The cold and wet weather is delaying fertilizer application and raising the specter of planting delays, which would have an impact on corn acreage in particular.
Meanwhile, the weather is also causing delays for opening day of the baseball season. The season opener between the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox scheduled for Monday has been postponed until tomorrow, and while the St. Louis Cardinals are still (at the moment) scheduled to open their season at 3:15 p.m. against the Pittsburgh Pirates, with snow in the forecast that game may also be postponed.
In Oregon, far-flung from the Corn Belt, the ethanol debate rages as lawmakers consider state legislation that will alter the state’s 2007 renewable fuel standard. Carol McAlice Currie, a columnist from the Salem Statesman-Journal newspaper covers the brouhaha and quotes a state official:
“You don’t get from zero to cellulosic ethanol (created from wood thinnings or agricultural waste such as grass straw, not corn) without steps,” said Brent Searle, special assistant to the state’s director of agriculture. “You build the refining plants, and then they adapt to other feedstocks. It’s just like computers or computer software. There’s always Version 1, which is then tweaked to produce Version 2 and so on. Corn is in abundance, so that what we’re using. Technology is still being pushed for cellulosic ethanol, and hydrogen is years beyond that. With the government incentives in place, we can build capacity. But it takes time.”
The columnist opines:
“And to the naysayers who claim that ethanol really isn’t a cleaner fuel when its feedstock has to be imported (as it currently does in Oregon), a few words: Oregon is a feed-deficit state. We import corn anyway to feed farm animals. One of the byproducts of ethanol production is the creation of wet distillers’ grain, which is a livestock feed, so we would be adding value to an agricultural process already happening.”
What could be better for baby – or Mother Earth – than kinder and gentler diapers made from corn?
Corn-based diapers have apparently been around for a couple of years now, first made by a Swedish company called Nature Baby Care, but they are getting a bit more buzz lately. If you search around on the web, you will find a number of different brands of eco-friendly diapers and other websites specializing in places to find them – like Better Baby Bums, for example. You gotta love that name!
According to BBB, the Nature Baby Care diapers were “the first ECO-friendly high-performance diaper, based on new green technology, protected by a Swedish patent. The diaper is soft, thin, comfortable and with perfect sizing. It’s performance is as good as the best ”traditional” diapers. It has an exclusive 100 % chlorine free absorbent material and the material against the baby’s skin is based on corn instead of plastic like traditional diapers, 100% compostable, breathable and extremely kind for the baby. The packaging is 100 % compostable and based on corn.”
Then there are companies like Earth Baby, based (where else?) in California, which offers “compostable diaper service” utilizing corn-based diapers. They claim they have composted over 9,600 pounds of diapers to date – turning them into nutrient-rich top soil in as little as 14 weeks.
It gives new parents another alternative to cloth or traditional disposable diapers – and corn farmers a new use for their product!
Yet another study, released today, confirms that corn-based ethanol helps reduce greenhouse gas significantly (39% today; up to 55% in 2015) and provides more energy than it takes to make it (42% more today; nearly double by 2015).
“The GHG emissions savings from ethanol production and use have more than doubled between 1995 and the projected level in 2015. This indicates the danger of making policy decision(s) based on historical data without taking into account learning experiences and the potential gains that can be expected as industries develop. The GHG emissions reductions in 2015 from corn ethanol would qualify as advanced biofuels under proposed US regulations.” (emphasis mine)
According to the news release, the paper found that GHG reductions have grown from approximately 26% in 1995 to over 39% today while projected GHG reductions from ethanol will reach nearly 55% in 2015 with the advent of new technology, process efficiencies and improved yields. Ethanol’s energy balance continues to improve as well, the paper found. For 2005, grain ethanol’s energy balance ratio was estimated at 1:1.42, meaning every unit of energy used to produce ethanol returned 1.42 units of usable energy to the consumer. By 2015, the energy balance ratio is expected to be 1:1.93, a 55% increase in energy efficiency in just 10 years.
You can download the entire report here. It was commissioned by IEA Bioenergy, an organization set up in 1978 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) with the aim of improving cooperation and information exchange between countries that have national programs in bioenergy research, development and deployment.
Post Update – Here is some audio from the press conference today announcing the report findings.
Corn ending stocks were cut by 40 million bushels “as higher expected feed and residual use more than offsets a reduction in food, seed and industrial use.” 
Seth Meyer with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) discussed how biofuels policies are affecting commodity prices, trade and exports. “I think the last couple of years of proved that there are a lot of moving parts here, there are a lot of other things affecting export volume,” Meyer says. “It’s important to put biofuels policies in context.”
Another interesting presentation at the conference had to do with the impact of biofuels policy on global poverty. 
Nebraska came out on top in the Happiness Index, which used unemployment figures, foreclosures and non-mortgage debt to determine a state’s overall financial well being. 
Weather over the weekend across the corn belt was far from spring-like, with a storm system that brought strong winds and heavy snow to many areas that should be getting ready for spring planting. 
What could be better for baby – or Mother Earth – than kinder and gentler diapers made from corn?
According to BBB, the Nature Baby Care diapers were “the first ECO-friendly high-performance diaper, based on new green technology, protected by a Swedish patent. The diaper is soft, thin, comfortable and with perfect sizing. It’s performance is as good as the best ”traditional” diapers. It has an exclusive 100 % chlorine free absorbent material and the material against the baby’s skin is based on corn instead of plastic like traditional diapers, 100% compostable, breathable and extremely kind for the baby. The packaging is 100 % compostable and based on corn.”