Dan Henebry, a farmer from the US state of Illinois, regrets that he did not sell more of his corn crop last summer, when the American “Midwest” needed rain and prices were higher, and this is not an isolated case, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

Farmers across the U.S. are regretting not putting their corn up for sale in May and June 2023, when drought began drying out the Midwest plains, prompting expectations of higher prices and lower yields.

Instead, prices fell after rains saved corn crops. The scale and speed with which prices have collapsed has surprised farmers, who now have silos filled with record amounts of corn.

Several farmers, economists and analysts interviewed by Reuters said U.S. farmers made a mistake when they decided to keep corn instead of selling it. The strategy of putting corn in silos in anticipation of higher prices did not produce the expected results, so some farmers found themselves in a situation where they had to cut back on equipment purchases and grow less corn.

Last June, corn futures touched $6.30 a bushel (27.216 kilograms) before falling to $4.10 a bushel after US farmers finally produced record amounts of corn.

“I wish I could sell more,” says Dan Hanebry. He said he still has about 40 percent of his 2023 corn crop in storage, including 30,000 bushels on his farm in central Illinois. In addition, the farmer pays three to four cents per bushel each month to store another 30,000 bushels of corn in the local silo. In a normal year, there will be no corn in the silo at this stage.

Analysts warn that prices will be subject to further declines as farmers begin to sell the grain they have in silos.

Paradox for US farmers: They can’t sell even when prices rise because they will fall again

“Any increase, no matter how small, will sell a lot of corn,” says Dan Henebry. Fred Huddlestan, a farmer in Yale, Illinois, says he still has the entire 2023 corn crop in storage, with about 39,000 bushels in the silo and another 25,000 bushels at home.

Prices never reached the level at which the farmer wanted to sell last year, even though he lowered the price. “I was still waiting for the market to grow. Eventually I’ll give up and start selling if nothing happens,” says Huddlestan.

Data released by the U.S. government shows that as of December 1, 2023, U.S. farmers had a record 7.83 billion bushels of corn in silos, the most on record at that time.

Worldwide stocks remaining from the previous crop are expected to reach their highest level in five years in September and include all corn used for feed, biofuel production and other purposes.

The good news is that U.S. farmers have plenty of room to store their crops, increasing storage capacity by 24% to 13.6 billion bushels over the past two decades.

Grain storage gives farmers more freedom of action when it comes to when and on what terms to sell their produce, avoiding prices that are usually low at harvest time.