Iowa farmers face fourth year of possible losses heading into harvest

Here are some numbers worrying Nodaway farmer Bill Shipley: He could get $8.96 for each bushel of soybeans he brings to his southeast Iowa elevator. But the statewide average cost is over $9 a bushel.Corn prices are even more grim: Iowa farmers could potentially lose 30 to 40 cents per bushel, with prices around $3 at Iowa elevators, based on estimates from Chad Hart, an Iowa State University economist."It's getting tighter and tighter out here," Shipley said. "Corn and soybean demand is good, but there's just a lot of it."Despite drought concerns this growing season, Iowa farmers are expected to produce the state's second-largest soybean crop, behind last year’s, and third-largest corn crop, following only 2016 and 2015 harvests.Nationally, it's the largest soybean crop and second-largest corn crop ever.