Eastern Iowa Farmer Fall 2020

coronavirus
“Prices did
nothing but
drift lower from
the first of the
year. Price has
seasonality, yet
2020 didn’t play
by the rules.”
— Allen kloft
highways looked like vast wastelands. Business at
gasoline pumps dried up, along with the demand
for ethanol.
Already low, corn prices fell more as the impact
of COVID-19 permeated the agriculture industry.
“It cratered the market,” said Allen Kloft of the
pandemic. Kloft owns the Delmar Grain Elevator
with Rich Thola.
“We laid our driver off for a couple of weeks,
so it looked really bad. Then things kind of came
back decent for our side of the business. We kinda
bounced back quickly,” Kloft said.
“We owned a lot of our own grain, and I had
it hedged and could continue to sell. We weren’t
hauling in a lot (from farmers), so I wasn’t behind
the eight ball to get grain moved,” he said, adding
that he generally keeps his grain sold ahead of
time so he’s not forced to sell to keep his drivers
busy.
The roller coaster ride of uncertainty continued,
and in mid-July, business was booming.
“We are swamped,” Kloft said at the time.
“Maybe it’s a wave effect.”
He was referring to the impact of the USDA’s
June 30 report that U.S. farmers had shifted away
from the March estimate of planting 97 million
acres of corn and had instead planted an estimated
92 million acres, which is 3%, or 2.3 million
acres, above last year. The price for a bushel of
corn went up 19 cents in two days to $3.49.
“That report caused a bunch of farmers to sell,”
he said. “Before I didn’t know how to keep a
trucker going. Now I have plenty of work.”
Iowa farmers were getting an average price
of $3.78 a bushel in January, $3.74 in February,
$3.64 in March, $3.28 in April and $3.12 in May.
“Prices did nothing but drift lower from the
first of the year. Price has seasonality, yet 2020
didn’t play by the rules,” Kloft said, adding that
the high is not normally reached in January.
As part of his job, he talks to farmers regularly.
He recalled that when COVID-19 began infecting
people in the United States, “there was a lot of
uncertainty. They had questions. This was bad in
New York and other parts of the world, but how
bad is this here?” he said.
Now, they are all watching prices and waiting
to see what harvest will bring.
“Basically what we hear is operating at this
price level is going to be unsustainable,” Kloft
said. “The farmers just want a good price.”
He does remind them of the programs that
State Rep.
andy McKean
A Strong Voice for Agriculture and Rural Iowa
with roger stewart, Maquoketa
with Heather Moore, Maquoketa
with will cornelius, bellevue
pRoud of ouR aRea faRMeRS
on the farm, promoting ag products and in agri-business
paid for by McKean for iowa House
60 Eastern Iowa Farmer | fall 2020 eifarmer.com