In Mississippi, cotton acreage dropped from 1.2 million acres last year to an anticipated 700,000 acres this year. It was all animal agriculture so for every acre of cotton, there was two acres of corn," Goodman said. The farmer has got the best opportunity on corn that hes ever had going into the year," said Walters, who planted 1,200 acres of corn this spring. Walters usually sells his corn for 10 to 35 cents more per bushel than the going rate at the Chicago Board of Trade, the...

Despite forecasts indicating that soybean acres are limited, the market has been unwilling to take prices higher in recent weeks. As a result, the potential exists for soybean prices to go a little higher in the near future - fondly known as &#8220the dead cat bounce. Martinson said that soybean exports to China are quite stable at this time. He thinks the slowdown in soybean prices is a little premature. The main reason was Brazil couldn't get their soybeans to their ports and get them...

Traders say the strength in soybeans has little to do with the acreage battle and is more about vegoil demand worldwide. Monday afternoon the USDA released their weekly crop progress reports showing soybean planting estimates at 3% complete. The market rebounded from a weaker open and rallied as soybean oil closed into new highs. Traders say funds are buying veg oils with fund activity reported to be heavy in canola, palm oil and soybean oil. More importantly the corn planting progress was...

As for other crops, there has been a "surprisingly fair yield" but it would have been much better if there was rain to go along with it, Teague explained. While many were glad to see sunny and dry weather through last winter and early spring, this area has seen so much of it that a serious drought has developed. Since irrigation systems are typically not used in this part of the country, farmers rely on whatever falls out of the sky, Teague explained. drought monitor report with southern...

Meanwhile, a market technician said soybean bulls need to show more power soon, with a two-month-old downtrend line still in place on the daily July bar chart. A slower-than-expected planting pace reported in Monday's crop progress report rekindled ideas of corn acreage shifts to soybean, and should apply pressure to prices, analysts said. Soybean planting "plays second fiddle" to corn planting and farmers need to have more corn planted before soybean planting increases, he said. Trade...