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In Part One, featured in our January issue, FEED & GRAIN looked back at the 2007 corn crop and its effect on wheat and grain sorghum acreage use and production last year, and the prospects for trade in 2008. In Part Two, we take a similar look at barley, soybeans and cottonseed supplies.

As pointed out in the first installment of this two-part series, the 2007 corn crop – all 90+ million acres of it – literally and figuratively, cut an extremely wide swath throughout the agricultural landscape. And its effects will continue to be felt this year.

“Last year was quite a beast in many respects,” says Steve Edwardson, executive administrator, North Dakota Barley Council. “Between acreage swapping, the burgeoning biofuels sector, a wildly volatile marketplace and simply getting a crop produced, there was nothing routine or ordinary about the 2007 growing season.”

No truer words.

With the marketplace prepping for a monster crop and the discussion turning to feedstock shortages, price volatility arrived early and stayed late last year. Like a houseguests who have overstayed their welcome, the volatility is still around today and showing no signs of leaving anytime soon.

“The marketplace this year is shaping up to be as unpredictable as last year,” says John Hoffman, president, American Soybean Assn. and a Waterloo, IA soybean producer. “Nevertheless, as producers and marketers, we need to listen to what the market tells us. So far this year, it’s telling us that it needs more protein and more soybeans.”