Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

The state's corn crop held strong over the past month according to the USDA's monthly review of domestic crop production and supply and demand, released this month. South Dakota's corn crop is projected at 135 bushels per acre, for a record 567 million bushels statewide.

The numbers for South Dakota were relatively unchanged from USDA's August assessment, due to favorable moisture and growing conditions throughout the state.

Nationwide, USDA reported slightly lower production estimates for the 2008 corn crop from 12.288 billion to 12.072 billion bushels, decreasing the average national yield from 155 to 152.3 bushels per acre. Both numbers continue to represent the second-highest on record and are higher than the average of the five previous crop years.

The forecast yield in South Dakota is up 14 bushels from 2007's yields and the harvest is expected to exceed last year's corn harvest by 4 percent. Acres to be harvested for grain, at 4.2 million, are down 7 percent from last year's 4.5 million acres harvested.

The projected bushels will provide ample supply to meet feed and fuel demand for South Dakota's ethanol and livestock industries. The state's 16 ethanol plants are set to consume 307 bushels of corn this year to produce 1 billion gallons of ethanol. Livestock feeding in the state will utilize 81 million bushels of corn and 410,000 metric tons of DDGs.

A unique situation has developed in the state over the past four years as the ethanol industry has developed. Exports of corn have decreased each year, causing a positive scenario for corn producers and the industries they supply.

On average, over the past four years, net exports have been about 150 million bushels; it used to be 275 million bushels, according to the ProExporter Network. So the amount of corn going to foreign export has gone down by 125 million bushels, yet corn production has increased at least by that amount.

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