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said he expects many farmers to follow suit.
• "Maybe you'll see some of those acres come back to soybeans, getting closer back to that 50/50 corn-soybean rotation," he said.
• Chris Hurt, an agriculture economics professor at Purdue University in Indiana, said he wouldn't be surprised to see a few million acres shift from corn to soybeans. He said the demand for corn has slowed and that this will be the first year it's reflected significantly in the market.
• "This is a flattening out of demand for corn," he said. "You don't have that growth of demand anymore and here is the year that we're seeing it."
• Corn was selling above $8 per bushel in the summer of 2012 and had fallen to around $4.26 per bushel Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade. Last week, corn dropped to its lowest price in more than 3 years on the news of a large increase in ethanol supplies. Prices rebounded slightly Friday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut back its estimate of last year's corn crop by 64 million bushels to 13.9 billion.
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Slower growth likely in rural areas of 10 states
• OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Economic growth will likely slow in rural parts of 10 Midwest and Western states in the months ahead.
• A monthly survey of rural bankers released Thursday shows the region's overall economic index falling to 50.8 in January from December's 56.1.
• The index ranges from 0 to 100, and any score above 50 suggests growth in that factor in the months ahead.
• Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says declining farm prices are hurting the economy.
• And most bankers say they expect the economy to be hurt by the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to reduce the amount of ethanol that must be blended into gasoline.
• The report covers rural parts of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
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Prices, future markets on minds of SD corn growers
• DIRK LAMMERS, Associated Press
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota corn farmers grew a record crop last year, but lower prices and questions about how to expand markets will likely be on their minds during their annual convention in Sioux Falls.
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