The unprecedented surge in demand for American grains - corn, soybeans and wheat - is being driven by everything from increased production of ethanol, which is made from corn, to severe drought in Australia to the buying power of an emerging middle class in China to speculation by commodities traders.
Hutchison figures his family isn't much different from other Eastern Shore farmers in the early days of a growing season unlike any in memory. They are giddy about unheard-of prices for corn and other grain but guarded about the spiraling cost of everything needed to grow them.
Last year, the Hutchison clan - Bobby, two of his brothers, his son and a nephew - burned their way through 70,000 gallons of diesel. The fuel feeds six-figure pieces of farm machinery that come equipped with GPS laptops in air-conditioned cabs. It also runs the irrigation pumps. Irrigation helped the family avoid a disastrous corn crop last year, a drought year that farmers say was Maryland's worst scorcher since 2002.
Another dry season could cost the family $250,000, nearly double last year's diesel bill.
Already, the Hutchisons have planted corn on half their land, 1,600 acres, and have begun planting soybeans on much of the rest, including land they used last year for corn.
Planting his first soybeans recently, Hutchison kept two tractors waiting as he knelt in a bare field, scooping with a trowel for the proper depth for beans.
"Some things you do by hand, even now," Hutchison says. "Ideal for soybeans is three-quarters of an inch deep. Corn can handle anything from 11/2 to 2 inches deep, depending on soil."
Tim Bishop, a grain farmer who works about 1,500 acres in Queen Anne and Talbot counties near Wye Mills, agrees that Eastern Shore farmers are cutting back on corn in favor of soybeans, mainly because nitrogen fertilizer has more than tripled in cost in the past two years. Corn requires 150 pounds of the fertilizer per acre.
"You've always got a lot to worry about with corn," Bishop says. "But here we are with a chance to make a profit, and we get hit with diesel and this whole energy thing."
So far, grain prices have not affected the chicken growers who produce 570 million birds a year for companies such as Perdue and Tyson. The companies provide the feed that contract growers give their birds, so the firms bear any added costs. Consumers also might get a break at the grocery store, at least for a while, says Doug Green, a 30-year chicken grower and former president of Delmarva Poultry Industry.
"Right now, it would be hard for the companies to raise prices for consumers," Green says. "It's just too competitive with pork and beef. Eventually, the companies are going to have to cut back on the number of flocks, which will hit growers who'll get fewer flocks."
Chad Nagel, whose family buys and stores grain, says the outlook for agriculture hasn't looked this good for a generation.
"A lot of people want to blame ethanol for the big jump in food prices or diesel prices, but it's not just ethanol," Nagel said. "It's all part of a global economy. If you want a cliche, this is the best of times and the worst of times."
Russ Brinsfield, a small farmer who heads the Maryland Center
