An expected corn planting rush to feed growing ethanol demand will likely spread from the Corn Belt to the land of cotton. Combined, the three states are expected to add 1.2 million acres of corn while trimming cotton production by more than a million acres. Billy Joe Ragland says high corn prices offer a chance to make a little money for a change on his long-time cotton farm in central Mississippi. But the sharpest increases are expected where cotton has been king for generations. The...

They say a bumper crop could hold prices steady while yielding enough corn to meet the needs for ethanol, livestock farmers and other food production. A drought, on the other hand, could squeeze the market and send corn prices spiraling. Corn prices that hovered around two-dollars a bushel for a decade have nearly doubled in the last year due to ethanol demand. Analysts tell the Associated Press, the combination of ethanol and weather uncertainties will make for a volatile corn market this...

Fresh ears direct from the corn patch are so much tastier and so much more appealing than corn prepared and served in any other way. If you've shopped for corn seed, it is easy to get confused by the initials on the packet or by the catalog description. In short, it is not your father's or your mother's sweet corn. If it is not possible to separate the corn by distance, stagger the planting date so that your corn tassels at least two weeks earlier or later than the other varieties. It is...

Those prices are still well above where they were at this time last year when corn was at $2. Department of Agriculture released its 2007 planting intention reports which indicated American farmers expected to plant 15 percent more acres of corn this year the largest area planted to corn since 1944. A pair of farm reports released Thursday indicated corn prices in Wisconsin dropped last month while farmers paid about 8 percent more than they did a year ago for products they need to keep...

However, the higher corn prices may be negative for some of the livestock producers that will have to bid for corn against ethanol plants and foreign exports. Generally, the growth of the ethanol industry likely will reduce the amount of corn available for exports or livestock feed. In a short crop year, the potential is for very strong corn prices as ethanol plants and other corn-dependent industries bid for limited stocks. The question for the industry is how many more acres will switch...

Soybean acreage is expected to be down 8.4 million acres, and spring wheat acreage is projected to decline by 1.1 million acres. This expected surge caused corn prices to be very high during the winter, which led producers to increase acreage to meet the growing demand, he said. Corn for ethanol production is expected to surge by at least 65 percent for the 2007 corn crop compared to last year's crop, Hurt said. Indiana producers were no exception, as corn acreage is expected to be up by...