Submitted by: agcomm,  Wed Dec 31 10:25:49 1997


                        December 31, 1997
1998 Planning Price Projections Available For Farmers
     Farmers and ranchers can use short-term agricultural
planning prices as a guide to preparing annual enterprise
budgets, and annual whole-farm cash flow projections, and for
setting price expectations for 1998 production, according to Ron
Haugen, farm management specialist at North Dakota State
University.
     Short- and long-term agricultural planning price projections
for North Dakota are available in a publication from the NDSU
Extension Service.  The publication lists 1998 price projections
for crops and livestock produced in the state, gives historical
price references and provides future price estimates.  Price
projections are given for wheat, durum, oats, feed barley,
malting barley, oil sunflower, non-oil sunflower, corn, soybeans,
dry beans, alfalfa hay, mixed hay, rye and potatoes.  Price
projections for livestock include beef steers, heifers, slaughter
hogs, feeder pigs, slaughter ewes, slaughter lambs, feeder lambs
and wholesale milk. 
     Current supply and demand conditions rarely continue for
long periods of time, so they are a poor indicator of future
trends.  Haugen stresses, therefore, that the short-term price
projections in the publication should not be used for planning
capital purchases or expansion alternatives extending beyond the
next production year.  Instead, he suggests, use these
projections to plan budgets only for the upcoming year. 
Long-term price projections are included to help farmers and
ranchers evaluate plans affecting the farm or ranch for more than
one year.
     To obtain this free publication, "Plotting A Course"
(EC-1090), call (701) 231-7882 or write to NDSU Agriculture
Communication, Distribution Center, Box 5655, 10 Morrill Hall,
Fargo, ND 58105-5655, or contact a county office of the NDSU
Extension Service.  Requests may also be faxed to (701) 231-7044
or e-mailed to dctr@ndsuext.nodak.edu.                            
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NDSU Agriculture Communication
Source: Ron Haugen (701) 231-8103
Editor: Barry Brissman (701) 231-7866