Farmers will chase high prices

UW specialist says producers undeterred by input costs

Central Wisconsin farmers will chase higher crop yields as hard as ever this year despite eye-popping fertilizer, seed, fungicide and fuel prices, according to Richard Halopka, UW Extension senior outreach agent specializing in crops and soils.

The ag agent said farmers in Clark, Marathon, Taylor and Wood counties have been “pushing a pencil” to try and take maximum advantage of $7 per bushel corn, $17 per bushel soybeans and Class III milk prices in the $25-range per hundredweight.

Halopka said many farmers will try to use as much livestock manure to replace purchased commercial fertilizer in order to insure a profit in the fall.

The agent said fuel prices, which have doubled recently, won’t slow down this area’s farmers, nor will it persuade them to adopt more environmentally friendly, cost-saving no-till techniques.

Halopka said the farmers who like to till, including those engaged in “recreational tillage,” will continue with the practice, despite the inevitable soil loss due to erosion.

“If you drive around, you still see a lot of tillage,” he said.

Halopka said, however, he has had plenty of conversations with grain producers interested in saving money on fuel by cutting back on field passes or using different implements.

The ag agent said he understands that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has upset world grain markets. That will impact central Wisconsin farming, but on the margins. He said the bulk of corn and soybeans grown in central Wisconsin will not be placed on a ship to feed the world, but, instead, will feed livestock in this region.

He said, however, that interruption of the Ukraine ag production will likely mean China will shop harder around the world for food. The Chinese, he said, will tap Brazil, a major grain producer, as well as the United States, which has unrivaled infrastructure to put grain on trucks, barges and, finally, on the world market.

“There are a lot of moving parts,” he said.

Halopka said central Wisconsin farmers this year will continue to plant as many acres as they can. He said a trend to clear wooded land for agriculture will continue.

“We plant fence row to fence row every year,” he said.

Halopka said farmers should be wary that two terrific corn and soybean years in a row don’t guarantee a good year this year.

“Yes, we’ve had some good yields but that doesn’t mean we’ll get the weather we need,” he said. “It comes down to whether we get enough growing degree days. You should figure that two out of every 10 years will be really tough. And then manage for the average.”

Halopka said he believes climate change is a reality but, despite this overall trend, that doesn’t mean central Wisconsin will get the weather needed to grow a bumper grain crop.

Despite this uncertainty, he said, there is one thing that is certain.

“There will be some farmers who make a profit, others who break even and still others who will lose money… just like every year,” he said.