SUSSEX, Del. - Fall has finally arrived which means harvesting season is in full swing. Corn is currently the number one crop in Sussex County and farmers are looking to make a decent profit this harvesting season.
Delaware's department of agriculture secretary, Michael Scuse said, "From all the reports I have gotten so far the corn yields are way up and the prices are to a point where are farmers are going to make some money this year unlike the past few years."
The price of corn has increased from $4.30 to $5.39 a bushel over the past year. The increase in price was due to the high demand of corn domestically and internationally.
Scuse said internationally, China is mostly responsible for the high demand. China is trying to rebuild its wet markets and poultry industry, so the country is in need of an abundance of corn. Also, agriculture in the Midwest took a hit this harvesting season.
Although a majority of Delaware's corn is purchased by the local poultry industry, farmers are still seeing the effects of the demand nationally and abroad.
Sussex county farmer, Dale Hopkins told WBOC he was happy to the price of corn increase this year.
"This year corn prices are up a little bit," Hopkins said. "Everybody is feeling more optimistic and looks like corn harvest are going to be one of the better crops we've ever seen in this area."
Although farmers will benefit from the rise in corn cost this year, the next harvesting season is not going to be as promising.
"You know the yield that we are getting right now, you can look at profits being up but we're already looking ahead to next year and seeing that our inputs, fertilizers, seed cost, all that kind of stuff, equipment cost are practically going to double for next year," Hopkins said.
"Five dollar 50 cent corn," Scuse explained. "Although it may look good this year, what they're projecting cost of production for next year, it's going to take more than that for our producers to make any money. It's going to be interesting to see just how many acres of corn get planted here on Delmarva and nationwide because of the extremely high cost of production that our producers are going to face next year. "