August 19, 2020 – With Illinois farmers seeing reasonable weather this year, they will benefit from good corn yields. It is a good turnaround from last year when heavy rainfall in 2019 negatively impacted the harvest. However, the pandemic has negatively impacted prices due to fewer people driving, with around 33% of Illinois corn typically being used to make ethanol.
The pandemic has also impacted the world market. Columbia, one of Illinois’ largest purchasers of corn, has raised fewer chickens during the pandemic because the cost of poultry is too high for many Columbian families.
