MSU Extension Agricultural Economist Dr. Jim Hilker describes the current status of commodity markets and gives projections for the short term. While most producers have a pretty good idea what crops they will be planting this spring, largely due to crop rotations and input purchases to date, most have the ability to make marginal changes on how many acres of each crop they will plant depending on their best guess of what relative prices will be. For example, for most producers, soybean prices versus corn process suggest returns per acre will be higher for corn this year than soybeans. The question is will those relative prices change between now and actual planting this spring. The answer could change given the markets expectation for total corn acres planted versus soybean acres.