[M.T. Pockets]

I agree with Nulle on this one. I live in MN about 30 miles East of the SD border, right on the edge of CRP.

When a lot of these fields were put in CRP the going cash rent for farmland was about $70, CRP paid about the same for marginal land so the land went in. Now this same land can bring about $200 an acre for cash rent, don't think for a minute that the landowner won't try to take it out and farm it again. Plus new seed technology makes it possible to raise a good corn crop on land that couldn't before.

Two years ago corn was selling for around $2 a bushell. Today the local price is $5.67 a bushell. Much of this is ethanol related, but a lot also has to do with increased exports to developing countries like China that can now afford it, and the low US $$ makes it easier for them to afford.

Who knows what the long term future will bring, but for the next couple years I know that most CRP that can come out probably will.