Soybeans, Wheat and Corn Compete for Acres by Susanne Retka Schill There’s a battle underway in the commodity sector—soybean, corn and wheat markets are all signaling for more acres to be planted. What’s unusual is that the wheat sector is the only one that should be sending strong signals because of a second year of poor worldwide wheat crops. In fact, wheat was setting new highs in early September, with Chicago December wheat contracts trading well over $8 a bushel. In the meantime, this year’s all-time record corn crop should have depressed prices far more than it did; and last year’s record soybean crop and healthy carryover forecast for this fall should have resulted in lower prices. Despite those market fundamentals, both soybean and corn markets—although not posting any records—remained strong the past several months. “Last year it was clear we needed more corn acres and the market signaled producers to do that,” says Darrel Good, University of Illinois agricultural economist. Farmers responded by planting more corn and less soybeans, planting 64.1 million acres of soybeans in 2007, down from the 75.5 million acres that produced last year’s record soybean crop. “Now we’ll need more acres of everything, and how do you do that?” Good says. Read more at Biodiesel Magazine