Chad Smith, NAFB News Service

China’s demand for U.S. corn is surging, and Iowa State University’s Center for Agriculture and Rural Development says the U.S. is ready for that demand. “The recent derecho storm caused a great deal of damage to Iowa’s corn and soybeans, but total predicted national corn production for the 2020-2021 marketing year is still the largest ever,” says Dermot Hayes, Professor of Economics at Iowa State University. China’s surging corn demand isn’t the only good news for U.S. farmers. Hayes updated a recent study he co-authored called “China’s Agricultural Imports Under the Phase One Trade Deal: Is Success Possible?” The most recent data says China will now import $21.63 billion in agricultural products from the United States in the first year of the phase one deal, an increase of almost $3 billion from the first prediction in May. The study’s co-authors say while the prediction is still behind the $36.5 billion target set by the deal, the recent market signals are showing that China has record demand ahead for U.S. corn, poultry, and pork. China’s increased demand for corn and pork relates back to the outbreak of the African Swine Fever Virus that started in 2018 and decimated China’s hog industry.