USA TODAY: …The value of field crops fell to $166.95 billion in 2013, down from $185.12 billion in 2012, the USDA said in a recent report. The value is determined by multiplying the average price for a crop from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31 by the total production.
Corn and soybean harvests declined during the drought of 2012, driving prices to record highs and increasing the value of field crops. But in 2013, an abundance of grain — owing to the record 13.9 billion bushels of corn and third-largest soybean crop — sent prices downward.
For example, the average price of corn in 2012 was $6.89 a bushel, driving the crop’s value to $74.3 billion. Last year’s average corn price was $4.50, resulting in the value falling to $62.7 billion. Soybeans didn’t fare much better, dropping from $14.40 a bushel in 2012 to $12.70 in 2013 — reducing the crop’s value 4 percent to $41.81 billion… (more)
