Planting delays in the Corn Belt likely means less overall corn production. That thought has allowed the corn market to rally, with new-crop prices increasing above $4. “If that market rally continues, the motivation to get some corn in the ground will increase,” says author of Mastering the Grains Elaine Kub. Planted acres won’t officially be recognized until USDA’s acreage report is released at the end of June. Although the market implications of prevented planting are hard to predict, Kub says they’re not hard to understand. “Four million acres would be historically large prevented planting, but there would still be a 14.3 billion bushel crop and a stocks to use ratio of 12 percent. We don’t yet that it’s a catastrophe worthy of getting bulled up for $5 corn.” Listen to the conversation.