I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter.
The planters are still running. The majority of the rice in the area is planted, except organic and RiceTec seed. The early planted rice is up. All of the corn and milo should be planted. Some are side dressing their corn. Cotton and soybeans are going into the ground. Most of the crops are looking good. The frost last week and high winds did burn some of the crops in certain areas and the cool weather slowed the growing process down. Most of those injured crops are recovering.
There are several rice farmers starting to flush their older rice. The main reason for this is to keep the soil wet to moist in order for the pre-emergent herbicides to work. It is very important to keep the soil conditions correct so that the grasses and weeds are kept under control. There may be adequate sub-moisture for the rice but the surface need to be kept moist for the herbicide to work properly. Scout your fields regularly in order to stay ahead of in problems that may show up. Remember the best thing in your field is your shadow.
Input costs are still flat to trending up slightly compared to the last month or so. Fertilizers have remained relatively the same, except for some of the nitrogen products creeping up a fraction. Fuel has increase 15 to 20 cents per gallon over the last month. The upward trend is said to be short term. The increase in fuel prices over the last month or so has people asking what prices will do over the next several months to a year. The answer is not a simple one. There are many factors that come into play. Crude oil has risen 61% since February 11. Most of the experts feel that the main reason for the rise in crude oil is the weakening of the value of the U.S. dollar. On the other hand, the U. S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that the global oil inventory are expected to grow by an average of 1.6 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2016 and .6 million b/d in 2017. Those increases will keep prices down through 2017 if all other factors remain the same. At the same time the stress on global storage capacity may be a factor in the direction of prices. The storage capacity includes fixed storage tanks and floating storage, barges and tankers. As the cost of storage increases you might see near-month crude oil prices decline.
ETI prediction of crude and fuel prices:
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||
| WTI Crude | $93.17 | $48.67 | $34.04 | $40.09 | per barrel |
| Brent Crude | $98.89 | $52.32 | $34.28 | $40.09 | per barrel |
| Gasoline | $3.36 | $2.43 | $1.89 | $1.97 | Average Retail Price |
| Diesel | $3.83 | $2.71 | $2.12 | $2.32 | Average on Highway Price |
Most experts feel that fuel prices will remain low through this year and into 2017. That is as long as the world economy continues to struggle. There are some who feel that domestically we are losing old production at a faster rate than new production will enter the market place. This condition may lead to a very slight increase in domestic pricing. Once again it is clear as mud.
Rice Farmers Coop wishes all of you a safe and prosperous 2016 season.
Have a rice day while you are wearing cotton.
