Prices rise for most farm commodities in year-to-year comparisons

Led by the increases for baled alfalfa hay and other hay, most agricultural commodities carried higher prices as of Dec. 15 compared to a year earlier.

This information is according to a report released early this week by Wisconsin field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Within Wisconsin, the price of dry alfalfa hay was running at $235 per ton compared to $130 in mid-December of 2011 and $190 as recently as Nov. 15, 2012. The respective per ton comparative prices for bales of other hay were $155, $90, and $120.

Prices for soybeans were averaging $14.50 per bushel on Dec. 15 in Wisconsin, up from $11.40 a year earlier and $14.20 a month earlier.

The state's per bushel prices for corn were in similar pattern of $6.95, $5.73, and $6.90, respectively.

Oats prices in Wisconsin were $4.25 per bushel in this past December compared to $3.90 a year earlier.

The national average prices for those commodities in mid-December varied somewhat in both directions from those in Wisconsin.

The prices were higher on the $7.01 per bushel for corn and $14.70 for soybeans but lower with the $3.78 per bushel for oats and the $217 and $142 per ton, respectively, for baled alfalfa and other hay.

Potato prices in Wisconsin, current as of November, were $7.05 per hundredweight for fresh and $9.65 for processing compared to $10.90 and $9.05, respectively, for November of 2011.

For several other commodities, the prices for Wisconsin are reported only quarterly - for periods ending in January, April, July, and October.

Those national prices, with 2011 in parentheses, included $8.24 ($6.41) per bushel for winter wheat, $6.17 ($5.46) for a bushel of barley, $36.70 ($42.00) per hundredweight of dry edible beans, 47 cents (30 cents) for one pound of fresh apples.

For livestock, the per hundred mid-December prices included $162 ($157) for dairy calves, $130 ($126) for steers and heifers, $76.80 ($70.50) for slaughter dairy and beef cows, and $62.90 ($63.50) for hogs.