Washington, DC
August 23, 2004
A new nationwide survey of U.S.
corn farmers found that they planted only 34.4 percent of their
total corn acres to genetically modified (GMO), biotech
varieties in 2004. Robinson and Muenster Associates, Inc. of
Sioux
Falls, South Dakota
conducted the survey for the American Corn Growers Foundation
(ACGF) Farmer Choice-Customer First program during June
of 2004.
Five hundred farmers were polled in the sixteen top corn
producing states that represent 92 percent of 2004 corn acreage
for harvest, according to an Aug.12 USDA National Agricultural
Statistics Service Crop Production Report. Farmers surveyed had
at least one hundred acres of corn. The random, scientific and
statistically valid survey has a margin of error of +/- 4.4
percent at the 95 percent confidence level. The 500 farmers
reported planting 208,414 total acres to corn, with 71,633 of
those acres, or 34.4 percent planted to GMO varieties, compared
to the 32.2 percent that those same farmers reported planting to
GMO varieties in 2003. The states included in the survey were:
Iowa,
Ill., Neb.,
Minn., Ind.,
Ohio, S. D.,
Wisc.,
Kan.,
Mo., Mich.,
Ky., Texas,
Colo., N. D. and
Pa. A March USDA prospective planting
survey of corn farmers, done before corn planting was underway,
projected that 46 percent of corn acres would be planted to GMO
varieties in 2004. After planting was completed and the seed was
in the ground the ACGF survey found 34.4 percent.
“This survey suggests that U.S. corn farmers may well be taking
the concerns and demands of foreign consumers and importers into
account in their planting decisions by holding their GMO corn
acres to only about a third of the total acres they planted to
corn this year,” said Dan McGuire, CEO of the ACGF. “Given the
corn supply and demand reports issued last Thursday by the USDA
showing only 1.925 billion bushels of corn exports this
marketing year and with new crop corn prices in the $1.80 per
bushel range in South Dakota,
U.S. corn farmers are right to
be concerned about the U.S.
holding on to foreign markets. Farmers understand that lost
markets increase corn inventories and larger corn stocks push
prices down.”
An Aug. 12, 2004 USDA crop supply and demand report showed the
estimated average corn price received by farmers in the current
2003/2004 marketing year, which ends on August 31, to be $2.40
per bushel, with an average per acre corn yield in 2003 of 142.2
bushels. USDA now projects the 2004 average corn yield to be a
record 148.9 bushels per acre with an average farm price of
$2.25 per bushel for the new 2004/2005 marketing year beginning
Sept. 1, 2004 and ending Aug. 31, 2005.
McGuire added, “Even with the projected record yield for 2004,
farmers will average $5.51 less gross corn income per acre than
in 2003 because of lower prices. The 142 bushel per acre yield
in 2003, at the average price of $2.40, would have provided
gross per acre income of $340.80, while the projected 149
bushel, record average per acre yield for 2004, at the average
price of $2.25, will generate only $335.29 per acre, and of
course many farmers will get less than that average price and
have lower than average yields. Low corn prices have not
delivered increased corn exports as promoted by advocates of
current farm and trade policy. PLUS, attempts by the U.S.
government and agribusiness to force foreign markets to accept
biotech corn varieties has not been a customer-oriented strategy
to say the least. It appears that the majority of
U.S. corn farmers are putting
the customer first and factoring that into their seed choices.”
The complete survey results and marginal reports are posted at
http://www.acga.org/cornsurvey/default.htm. |
