Corn: New Hot, Yellow—Not Gold—Investment

After I read the story on Patch of the event held in Eureka over the weekend, my daughter Carole, who along with me and others, grew up in the area of show, decided to tour the bottom—much of which we used to farm.

In the background of the picture of the model airplanes, you can see the corn field on the river side of the airfield. It looked pretty good, but across the road from the airpark, was the evidence of what knowledgeable people in the industry seem to recognize.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently downgraded its estimate of this year's U.S. production of corn by 350 million bushels, so stockpiles before the start of the 2011 harvest may drop to 730 million bushels—the lowest since 1996.

Corn has doubled in price in the past year, going from $3.44 per bushel in June of 2010 to $7.95 in May of 2011. I just checked and it is $7.10 per bushel, up about 9 cents.

I would like to discuss this more fully because of worldwide food shortages and strife that develops. What does it mean to you and me?

Because corn is the basic food for chickens and livestock, it mean our food prices will rise.  Take that good old box of Corn Flakes, which suddenly may cost $4 to $5 or higher.

This is the first summer in 65 years that I don't have to worry about if the crops will make it or not. But I still have to pay for the cost of my food.  Good luck to all you readers, who also are consumers.