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Corn Is Golden for Maryland Farmers
By JONATHAN N. CRAWFORD
Capital News Service
Friday, April 13, 2007
POOLESVILLE - Spurred by the ethanol boom, corn prices are surging to historic highs, and farmer Jamie Jamison and others like him throughout Maryland are expecting to plant corn at levels not seen in the state for over a decade.
"Yes. It's exciting for me. ... These are fun times," said Jamison, 61, a fourth-generation farmer who grows corn, soybeans and winter wheat on 5,000 acres near here.
Currently the national weekly average price for corn, at $3.50 a bushel, is 60 percent over the average price a year ago, according to the National Corn Growers Association. But Maryland, which is a net importer of corn because of demand for animal feed from the poultry industry, often has prices above the national level.
The surge in prices is being felt throughout the chain of production.
According to Roger L. Richardson, Maryland secretary of agriculture who is also a farmer, many are using the opportunity to buy new equipment, some pieces of which can cost as much as $100,000.
"Naturally, farmers are upbeat because they never had the opportunity to contract for corn that they haven't even planted at over $4 (a bushel)" he said.
Bobby Hutchison, a salesman for Augusta Seed Corp. in Talbot County said sales of seed corn have jumped by 30 percent. And, he said, prices for fertilizer, used heavily in growing corn, have doubled in some parts of the state.
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