Milford chronicle., 1962-10-19
Corn Storage Can Mean
More Profit Per Acre
w. II. McAllister
Farm Management Specialist
University of Delaware

University of Delaware
Corn growers have two oppor-
tunities to increase their profits
on their corn crop - first by using
top flight production methods and
second by marketing their crop to
the best advantage.
Delaware farmers have demon
strated that they can grow corn.
Year after year they apply their
skills in production and manage
ment to produce bumper crops.
Record yields of 100 bushels per
acre or more are common. But too
many farmers have been unwill-
ing to apply this same saver to the
important job of marketing. Too
often they have been content to
sell their crop out of the field for
whatever price that was being Of
fered. Many lacked operating CAPT
tai and needed the money. Others
Just didn't have the storage facili-
ties to hold their crop until better
prices prevailed.
There is very little price risk in
storing c,'rn. And a producer can
usually make ten to fifteen cents
per bushel over storage costs.
For the past twelve years Della
ware farmers have been able to
get an average of % cents bushel
more by holding their corn in
storage for only three months.
This was 1859 increase in price
over the price at harvest in Oct.
and Nov. Inexpensive but adequate
storage facilities have place on
most Delaware farms that produce
corn for feed or as a cash crop.
The great increase in the amount
of farm and commercial storage
space in Delaware in the last few
years would indicate that storage
has been profitable. 1t might be
worthwhile to point out that as
the quantity of storage space in
creases the amount of the price
decline at harvest season de-
creases. So you can see, storage
may not be as profitable in the
future as it has been in the past.
On the other hand. as long as
Delaware is a corn deficit area
1--WE use more corn than we pro-
duce) we can expect seasonal price
advances which will at least cover
storage costs. And there is a
chance of making some extra
profit as there is always going to
be depressed price for corn at
harvest time since many farmers
will always prefer to sell rather
than store.
A common question is what does
it cost to store corn. Like all other
costs these vary widely. About one
half of the total cost is likely to
be for suitable storage facility.
This is a fixed cost and once the
facility has been built you have
the expense whether it is used or
not. The annual fixed cost of a
corn bin or crib is between 51a
cents to cents. The variable
costs - those directly associated
with placing and keeping corn in
storage will make up the other
half of storage costs. They include
a charge for interest on the money
invested in stored crops, damages
and losses (you don't take out
quite as much as you put I'M, also
insurance, and the added cost of
putting the corn in and taking it
out compared with marketing di-
rectly from the field. Total costs
will run somewhere between IL
cents and 16 cents.
Since the average seasonal price
increase over the past twelve years
has been % cents bushel during
the first three months after har-
vest, you can see there is good
chance for six to eleven cent
a bushel profit That's an added
return of between five and eight
dollars an acre on an eighty bushel'
per acre yield.