USDA - Corn Forecast Cut, Boost in Prices

According to a report in the WSJ, the USDA has again cut its forecast for the 2010 corn harvest. This is in addition to previous cuts. Interested readers might want to read my previous blog posts:

USDA - More on the Program Crops Forecasting Issue

The U.S. Corn Crop

Because of the cut, corn and soybean futures are up the daily limit on futures trade.

This quote is perhaps more important than today's surge in grain prices:

"End-of-season inventories of corn, already expected to be at a 15-year low, were cut by more than 10% to 745 million bushels."

Polansek, Tom, 2011. Grain prices soar as u.s. slashes outlook. The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 12.

In the context of the article, it is not clear if this cut in carryover is for 2010 or 2011. Either way, it is a major news story.

I think there are plenty of signs that U.S. agriculture needs the benefits of advanced technology. For example, with regard to computer applications agriculture is perhaps 5 - 10 years or more behind industry.

I am passionate about MIT becoming involved in bringing new technologies to the practice of agriculture, especially in the areas of computing and surface science.