01/16/07 Expect more corn acres in Washington

Washington Ag January 16, 2007 Corn for grain is ranked down at number 19 in Washington's list of top forty commodities by value, but your likely to see an increase in corn plantings in the Columbia Basin this spring. Bailey: "With the forward contracts we have already seen coming in, that we see an increase of 200-300% of what we normally take in in our little draw area." That's Keith Bailey of the Odessa Union WareHouse. It's high corn prices that are attracting acres and that's been driven by the demand for corn for ethanol. Dana Herron, who serves with Bailey on the Washington Wheat Commission, and who has a seed company, sees more corn acres in the Basin too. Herron: "To the wheat grower that means that in the eastern Washington area, where you have irrigation, more corn will be grown and those acres will come from spring wheat more than likely." And those irrigated wheat acres are typically hard red spring. There are reports some Midwest farmers may rip out winter wheat to plant corn. Herron says that possible here too if corn prices go high enough, however irrigated crop rotations may be a deterrent. Herron: "One of the advantages of raising wheat is you are all done on August 1st and you have time to plant that second crop in the Columbia Basin. Corn doesn't harvest until October, November. You have very little time to put in another crop for the spring or fall of 2008." Herron says those decisions will be made in the next 30 days. I'm Bob Hoff.