More and more insiders are lining up, pointing to seed corn prices as high as $340 per bag for elite genetics with all the bells and whistles for '09. Sonny Beck, Beck's Hybrids, Atlanta, predicted $350 to $400 seed corn at his field day a year ago. Now it looks as if seed corn will reach that level sooner than even he thought.

By the way, Beck's extravaganza, known as Becknology Days, is underway at the plant near Atlanta. It runs through Saturday, Aug. 23. Tours, food and special events are available each day. The event is open to the public. Beck's officials say they will book at least 90% of last year's sales by the end of the three-day event. While customers may switch hybrids or variety numbers somewhat, the orders are usually pretty firm, they note.

What won't happen this year at Becks is that farmers visiting the field day will know exactly what the price of seed will be when they attend. Prices were set at field day time last year, but are not yet set this year. Beck's promises prices will be competitive. It's a practice they've had to follow a few times in the past, officials note. It usually doesn't slow farmers down from ordering. Many want to take advantage of discounts and special incentives available only during the field day program.

Part of the price increase for seed industry-wide is due simply to the fact that the raw commodity, both corn and soybeans, are worth more, plus it cost more in energy costs to get the seed in the bag, note officials of Dow AgroSciences. That company sells seed under the Mycogen brand. They also recently purchased Triumph Seeds in Texas, and just announced the purchase of Dairyland Seed sin Wisconsin. Dairyland sells a respectable amount of seed in Indiana. The companies and brands just purchased will remain separate, except for sharing of some genetic material with Mycogen, Dow AgroSciences seed specialists say. Breeding programs there will be left in place. In the purchase of Dairyland, for example, Dow AgroSciences purchased all assets, not just the sales force. Monsanto, buying companies over the past few years as ASI, has tended to prefer just buying the brand and sales force, not necessarily purchasing the company's production facilities and production capacity. Buying Dairyland now gives Dow AgroSciences an entrée into the soybean market, and also puts them heavily into the alfalfa sales market. That compliments their already strong position in silage corn sales, notes Doug Vail of Dow AgroSciences.

The other major reason for the increase seems to be an increase in tech fees for the hybrids coming from the supplier. Most sources say Monsanto is sticking to its concept of charging for value. Since commodity prices for corn is up, their fees have went up so they can obtain what they consider a fair share of the value they're delivering to farmers through improved technologies, sources say.

Soybean seed prices as high as $60 plus per bag could be possible for the very latest genetics, especially Monsanto's Roundup Ready 2Yield varieties. The company touts them as being 7 to 11% better yielding than the current elite varieties on the market.

The bottom line is that if you're preparing crop budgets for next season, be sure you include numbers that are large enough to cover true seed costs. The numbers being bantered about so far in industry circles, not just at coffee shops, would indicate healthy increases of 30 to 40% over a year ago.

Watch for deals from companies early in the sales season. One small-sized company apparently has offered 100% customers last year's price for certain hybrids, as long as they pay cash now. Last year, Beck's offered free refuge seed for those planting hi-tech varieties. Officials say that deal won't be offered this year.