By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

STANTON, Mich. — Anticipation about commodity prices and market volatility is causing some growers to remain cautious as spring planting gets under way.

Although the cost to plant corn is a lot higher than soybeans, Steve Sutherland, of Sheridan, said he would prefer to plant all 900 acres of his farmland to corn this year because it’s a safer risk. However, he plans to plant some soybeans because he needs the crop rotation.

“On my ground, I can’t raise 50-bushel soybeans,” Sutherland said of his farm, which is not irrigated and is comprised primarily of sandy loam soil. “With the triple stack technology in corn, it just hangs in there and produces. It’s more of a guarantee for me.”
Sutherland said depending on the corn seed, his input costs will be about $200 more per acre to plant corn versus soybeans. However, with a greater yield potential on corn, he said it’s an investment he’s willing to make.

“There were guys around here last year who had 20 bushel beans. That would be just devastating for me,” he said.
“With credit issues the way they are it’s a consideration” to plant less corn, Sutherland said, “but the rate of return is so much better.”

According to a recent prospective plantings report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Michigan corn production is expected to decline nearly 5 percent from one year ago, down from 2.4 million acres in 2008 to 2.3 million acres this year.

In 2005, Michigan growers planted 225 million acres of corn, averaging 143 bushels per acre at $1.88 per bushel, according to data from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Ethanol began to fuel the corn market in 2006, pushing up production. Farmers that year planted about 220 million acres with a yield of 147 bushels per acre and averaged $3.20 per bushel. The upward trend continued through 2008 when some growers cashed in on contract prices up to $7 per bushel. New crop corn is hovering at about $3.85 per bushel.

Roger Rockafellow, manager of the dry bean division at Heritage Bean and Grain in Alma, said the world’s financial crisis is taking its toll on commodities. Going into planting, he expects a shift in dry bean production this year due to lagging sales of old crop beans.
“Currency has had some big issues. When the bottom fell out of the stock market, it just killed everything. I think that just had such a drag on all of the grain markets and the dry bean market. Some of the banks just quit issuing credit. It’s really affecting agriculture,” he said.

“I’ve heard some folks talking about soybeans and not planting as much corn because of the cost to produce it,” Rockafellow said.
With dry beans, Rockafellow said seed sales have held steady for light red kidney beans, but “cranberry and navy bean acres are going to take a whipping. My navy seed orders are about one-eighth of what they were last year.

Right now I have about 80 to 90 acres booked. Last year I had about 900 to 1,000 acres.”

Rockafellow said another factor is difficulty getting new crop contracts.

“Buyers just aren’t offering them, and if they are, they’re dirt cheap,” he said.

That’s one reason that Keith Waldron and his father, Wayne, are switching some of their dry bean acreage to soybeans this year.
“We’ve been dropping dry bean acres for the last four years,” Keith Waldron said. “They’re not worth the hassle until these buyers want to start paying for them.”

The Waldrons grow more than 2,000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and dry beans on in the Stanton and Crystal areas. Dry edible bean production in Michigan is estimated to be up about 5 percent this year according to the NASS report.

Eric DuBay, manager of West Michigan Bean Company in Sidney, doesn’t expect a decline in dry bean acreage this year, but said a shift in varieties is likely due to slumping sales for some beans.
“I don’t believe there will be very many if any cranberries planted. They’re not moving anywhere,” he said. “I think kidney beans are going to be on an even keel with last year. Maybe some of the cranberries will go to kidneys.”

Seed sales “are right about where I was last year at this time,” he added.

DuBay said only about five percent of the company’s beans come from farmers outside of the seven families which own the company.
The owners “know what it takes to maintain the business so they are going to grow what they need to grow,” he said.