FARMERS PLAN CROPS DESPITE FARM BILL TANGLE

Joe Lumsden hopes to start planting corn within two weeks.

Paul Lanpher and his son, Rus Lanpher, will stick to last year's formula with their crop rotation.

Mike Reiminger also plans to stick with his rotation of corn, beans and wheat.

All three Southeast Missouri farmers are hopeful that a new farm bill can be worked out, but they are not going to let anything interfere with 1996 planting plans.

Congress has yet to pass a farm bill to replace the one that expired last year, leaving producers to wonder how federal farm policy will affect their bottom line this year.

A compromise farm bill cleared a joint House and Senate panel last week, paving the way for final passage next week of the seven-year bill that would end price-based subsidies for major crops in favor of fixed but declining payments.

A number of growers have indicated they will go "fence row to fence row" with crops this year.

"We'd like to see the new farm bill intact," said Terry Birk of the Cape Girardeau County Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service office at Jackson. "But farmers here will be putting corn in the field as soon as weather permits it."

Birk, like other farm specialists, expects to see corn acreage up for 1986.

Corn production was down in 1995 following a good year in 1994. But seed dealers in the area are reporting hardy orders for 1996.

One extension marketing specialist, Darrel Good of the University of Illinois Extension, expects corn corps to remain large in Illinois.

One major factor in the corn crop could be the condition of the winter wheat crop, said Good, adding that some of the failed wheat crops may be replanted in corn.

Farmers have more time to make preparations for soybean planting. Missouri soybean production last year totaled only 131 million bushels, down 15 percent from the 1994 crop. A number of soybean farmers are expected to increase their production because of lower planting costs and strong prices.

Soybean production is usually high in Southeast Missouri. Four of the top-producing counties are Pemiscot, New Madrid, Mississippi and Stoddard counties.

Corn and wheat production is also big in Southeast Missouri, with Stoddard County typically the top corn-producing county in the state. Pemiscot and Stoddard counties also typically rank in the top three or four in wheat production.

When all 1996 final figures are in, corn acreage will likely be up, in Missouri and Illinois. Only 1.6 million acres was planted in Missouri in 1995, down from the 2.4 million acres in 1992 and 1993. Acreage this year in Illinois is expected to be over 80 million acres, largest since 1985, when 83.4 million acres were planted.

Lumsden, the Lanphers, Remingers and Jerry Cox of Chaffee, had big years in corn production in 1995, winning in a number of National Corn Yield Contest categories.