U.S. farmers face soggy and cold corn crop weather

[ so much for all that ethanol that was to be produced ]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Farmers in the U.S. Corn Belt, who intend to plant the biggest cord crop in 63 years, will face soggy or cold planting weather over at least the next week, a private forecaster said on Friday.
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DTN Meteorlogix weather service forecaster Joel Burgio said wet and warm weather would blanket the Midwest from Friday through Tuesday, then cold and drier conditions would prevail through the end of the week.

The U.S.
Department of Agriculture said on Friday American farmers intended to plant nearly 90.5 million acres of corn this year, the most since 1944.

Soaring demand for corn from the ethanol industry has boosted corn prices to decade highs this year, prompting farmers to plant corn in lieu of soybeans this crop season.

The crop needs to be seeded from roughly early April through mid-May to capture optimal production potential.

"It all comes down to weather, and it starts from now through the growing season," said Shawn McCambridge, analyst for Prudential Financial. "Now we start to see whether we can plant this much corn on a timely basis."

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures plunged their 20-cent trading limit on Friday because the government's forecast for this year's corn acreage was well above an average of analysts' estimates.

Analysts at a press conference following the release of USDA's forecast also said that weather will have the final say in the 2007 corn and soybean planting and production derby.

"We definitely need good yields and timely plantings. The weather issue is important and right now it looks a little shaky, with wet and cool expected for next week," said Jerry Gidel, analyst for North America Risk Management Inc.

Burgio also wasn't optimistic about a big improvement in planting weather anytime soon.

"The way the pattern has been behaving, when it does warm up, it will be wet again, so planting may be slow. But with today's equipment they can get a lot planted in a short period of time," Burgio said.

"U.S. farmers are capable of planting the acreage and the next 45 days are critical. Corn yield per acre and production is closely related to timely plantings," said Brian Basting, commodity research analyst for Advance Trading.

"It's going to be an exciting time the next few months," Basting said.

(Additional reporting by Julie Ingwersen)