Mobile, AL – Encouraged by record crop prices in Alabama's farm forecast, growers still must find the money to starting planting while being hit with rocketing costs for fuel, fertilizer, seeds and equipment.
The drought also lingers as a threat to the state's multimillion-dollar farm economy and a late-season freeze would be a setback.
But it's the cost of farming that's a major threat.
Auburn University farm economist Robert Goodman said the price of fertilizer this year has almost doubled. The price of some varieties of seed also has doubled and soybean seeds are in short supply.
The USDA's projection for record prices for wheat, corn and soybeans presents an opportunity for profit, depending on weather conditions.
The state's winter wheat seedings for this year were estimated at 170,000 acres - up 50,000 acres from last year and the most acreage seeded since 2001. The USDA projects a 6 percent increase nationwide in domestic wheat use.
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