Wichita ? Good prices are ahead for agriculture, not only in 2004 but for several years to come, nationally-known agricultural market analyst Sue Martin said at the Wichita Farm and Ranch Show.

“The new player in this game is demand,” Martin said Tuesday. “After years of seeing the trade rely on supply and weather, we’ve actually got demand to consider.”

And demand is strong — strong enough to send soybean cash prices over $9 a bushel by January and push wheat above $5 a bushel by next fall, she predicted.

She sees prices rising for some time.

“Beans in the teens will be a reality,” she said.

Global weather problems affecting production in the United States, Argentina, Australia, Brazil and China, along with a policy of reducing inventories, have cut world stocks of soybeans, wheat and corn to near-record lows even as usage goes up.

Disease in the South American soybean crop drastically cut 2003 yields and could still cause trouble in 2004, Martin said.

“Traders sort of pooh-poohed the Asian rust problem last year, not adjusting for it until the yields started being tallied,” she said.

“Then soybean prices started a major rally. This year I think they’ll be watching that problem closer.”

Martin is the president and owner of Ag & Investment Services Inc., a brokerage firm in Webster City, Iowa, and provides analysis on radio and television shows.

A weakening U.S. dollar at a time when Asian countries have $8 trillion to $10 trillion in their coffers also will encourage imports from the United States, she predicts, especially as demand for soybean meal and soybean oil outstrips production.

“We are seeing a side effect of all those manufacturing jobs outsourced to China,” she said. “We’re seeing those workers with money in their pockets. And the first thing they want is a better diet. That’s translating to increased imports and also increased beef and pork production in China. Increased meat production is increased demand for feed grains.”

The dark spot to the better prices is continued drought over almost two-thirds of the United States, including huge areas of Midwest cropland.

“We still have time to see that turn around by planting time next spring,” Martin said. But “if we go into spring dry, then we’re going to see an even greater weather impact on prices.”

Martin also predicted strong cattle prices well into next year.