CHICAGO, June 17 Reuters South Dakota farmer Eric Kroupa received a flurry of calls from grain dealers and ethanol plants asking to buy the corn locked away in his bins when prices neared 412month peaks last month.

He sold some, but is waiting for buyers to up their bids to sell more. Prices have since eased and are hovering just above threeyear lows posted in February.

There39;s a lot of corn out there but it39;s sitting in the farmers39; bins and not the endusers39; hands, Kroupa said.

After stockpiling crops for much of this season due to low prices, many farmers in the world39;s largest cornproducing nation continue to shun buyers despite few signs that prices will improve. Grain supplies are ample and early ratings of summer crops are the best in years.

A largerthannormal volume of grain remains unsold, according to Reuters interviews with 15 grain farmers across the U.S. Midwest. By September 2025, U.S. corn inventories are expected to reach a sixyear high, according to the U.S Agriculture Department.

Uncertainty around if and when farmers will liquidate their stocks could make for choppy grain prices, both in cash and futures markets.

Farmers risk waiting too long to sell as a flood of newly harvested grain is likely to drag down prices this October and November. Buyers, aware the harvest is coming, still need enough supplies to keep processing plants running and exports flowing this summer.

An economic staredown between growers and grain buyers is taking…