Corn has been side-swiped by a drastic decline in oil prices to the point that some are paying others to take oil off their hands because they have no place to store it.
North American oil prices sank to below $37 negative per barrel as those holding contracts had no place to put the oil.
That has also forced some ethanol plants to stop production.
And declining livestock demand for corn-based feeds is also pushing corn prices down.
According to a study by Dr. Gary Schnitkey of the University of Illinois, corn growers in the United States are facing declines of $50 per acre on the upcoming crop.
Nation-wide corn prices have declined by 16 per cent from March 1 to mid-April, and by 20 per cent in some areas, reports the National Corn Growers Association.
Scnitkey said the impacts of reduced livestock demand are just beginning to come to bear in the market, as livestock processing plants are beginning to be disrupted.
On Monday, several more U.S. plants shut down in the United States and Cargill closed Canada’s largest beef-packing plant at High River, Alberta.
The existing market-support subsidy of $17 per base acre for corn will fall short of covering 2019 revenue losses, underscoring the need for the assistance provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), the corn producer association said.
