Iowa farmers are considering some difficult options as they try to determine what crops they’ll plant in the spring, given how 2014 wrapped up poorly for so many growers. Joe Glauber, the chief economist for the U-S Department of Agriculture, says plenty of farmers took a big hit last year after commodity prices dropped. “Large corn crop, large soybean crop, and that came on top of big crops last year and because of that, prices did fall,” Glauber says. “We’ve seen crop receipts off over $20-billion, down from last year.” Glauber says producers need to decide soon what crops will be most profitable to plant this spring. He says many growers were hurt financially by the drop in commodity prices this past year, especially when compared to 2013.

“If you’re a crop producer and you locked in for some high cash rents, you had a tough year and 2015 could be a tough year,” he says. “You’re looking around at what to plant. Unfortunately, corn prices have come down and so have soybean prices.” Glauber says some producers may find themselves between that proverbial rock and hard place as they decide what to plant this spring. He notes, they also need to decide which new Farm Bill Risk Management Program to select for the upcoming year.

(Radio Iowa)