Monday, July 28, 2014
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s bumper crop of corn this year means lower prices at the supermarket and vegetable stands.
The high corn yields from this year and last year are forcing a drop in prices not seen in the past five years. That’s not so good for farmers, but consumers are benefiting.
Per-bushel corn prices have dropped 38 percent since last July, John Miyares, a statistician with the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Great Lakes Regional Field Office, told The Dayton Daily News.
The $4.37-per-bushel price last week was the lowest in five years. Miyares says prices of other crops have fallen sharply as well, with soybeans trading at near 2 1/2-year lows and wheat at near four-year lows.
“[Corn] prices were artificially high in the past few years,” said Jeff Wuebkur, who farms corn, soybeans, and livestock in Darke County, northwest of Dayton. “Crops were good last year, and this year they’re just as good. There’s more corn and more beans than ever.”
Nationally, corn has the potential to reach 2003’s record of nearly 14 billion bushels, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its midyear report.