Crop prices could be impacted from snowstorm damage

Winter storms may not be hitting the immediate area, but they could impact corn and soybean prices for local farmers.

Brad Rippey, United States Department of Agriculture meteorologist, said the amount of crop loss will on the corn’s maturity.

“There is still a portion of the crop that has not even reached the denting stage, and that portion of the crop could be lost if it is too immature,” Rippey said. “For the crop that has at least dented, the amount of loss for that crop is usually fairly limited.”

Rippey said the states most likely impacted will be Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, and possibly western Nebraska.

In addition to snow, Rippey added cold air coming behind these most recent storms could hit soybeans.

“When it does get cold, especially after some wet weather, we could see pod-shattering types of conditions where you lose the pods as they burst open and the beans fall to the field,” Rippey said.

Farmers were already facing a delayed harvest because of recent wet weather and late planting in the spring. Rippey said farmers in the impacted region still have almost 10 percent of the spring wheat in the field.