Agriculture has huge impact on county

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SYCAMORE - Agriculture has a total impact of more than $950 million in the county, DeKalb County Farm Bureau Director Greg Millburg said Tuesday at a business roundtable hosted by the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. Millburg told attendees at the agriculture-based presentation that the total value of the county's ag products comes in at $319 million - most of that in corn. When factors - such as job creations and expenses - are included, farm bureau officials estimate that agriculture has about a $957 million impact on the county. “Corn is king in DeKalb County,” he said. “Roughly three-quarters of the acres in production in DeKalb County is in corn production.” While the price of corn has been rising, it is not directly related to higher prices shoppers are seeing at the grocery store, Millburg stressed. About 12 percent of the nation's corn supply is used for human food and industry, while 51 percent is used for livestock feed, 18 percent is processed into ethanol and 19 percent is exported overseas, he said. He noted that high energy prices have a greater impact on prices on the store shelf because of their impact on processing and transportation costs. DeKalb County Farm Bureau President Paul Rasmussen said ethanol production has not taken corn from its other uses. New technologies have increased the average corn yield per acre, he said, and instead of that grain being used for livestock feed, ethanol byproducts are used in the feed chain instead. “Those are actually better, because they're higher in protein than the unprocessed corn was by itself,” he said. The county's soybeans are worth another $44 million, Millburg said, while hogs bring in $39 million and cattle $28 million. “You may drive down the road and ask, ‘Where did all the livestock go?' Well, they're there,” Millburg said. Millburg also covered the costs of farming in his presentation. An average 1,000-acre farm that raises no livestock requires about $383,000 a year in annual input costs, he said. “I'm not going to say agriculture has not been good to us this year, because it's been wonderful,” he said. “It's not wrong to make a profit, but when your profit can be here one year and gone the next year, you have to manage that very carefully.”