Louisiana farmers planted corn on more than 700,000acres, more than double the amount planted in 2006 and the corn crop could yield a record 91 million bushels this year. As Louisiana farmers pick corn over cotton this year and try to cash in on the high price corn is fetching because of soaring ethanol production, they also are scrambling to find places to store what may be a record harvest. Corn prices have fluctuated between three dollars, 25 cents and $4 a bushel chiefly because of the...

With the average planted corn acreage over the past 15 years at about 78 million acres, the market's dilemma was finding a source for all the extra acres needed, he said. That took away land from other crops, and now corn plantings for this year are set to be their highest in more than 60 years. The increase in intended acres for corn was partially offset by fewer expected acres of soybeans and cotton, the USDA said. All the while, China was cutting back on its global corn exports, said...

A bushel of corn yields about 2.7 gallons of ethanol, so we'll harvest enough corn to distill nearly 34 billion gallons. ADVERTISEMENT It seems that everywhere you turn these days, ethanol is being touted as the best way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. However, if we used all of our corn for ethanol, what would we feed our livestock? Where would we get high-fructose corn syrup to sweeten our sodas? It's not an all-or-nothing proposition, but even with increases in corn acreage and...

The conditions, although not as bad as this time last year, come at a crucial time for the corn and soybean crops, said Perry Aasness, state executive director of the U. Aasness said it's too soon to know the drought's toll on state crops, although this is a crucial time for corn, which is beginning to fill in kernels. Most crops have matured more quickly than in recent years because of warm weather this spring, with earlier harvests a strong possibility. More than three quarters of the...

It is now widely accepted that the future of ethanol is cellulosic: Rather than distilling corn for ethanol to fuel our cars, accepted wisdom is now that we will be able to replace a large fraction of our current fuel consumption with ethanol distilled from agricultural and forestry waste, as well as dedicated energy crops, such as switchgrass and hybrid poplar. It is now widely accepted that the future of ethanol is cellulosic: Rather than distilling corn for ethanol to fuel our cars,...