Even though the El Niño is still growing towards a new record, climatologists and farmers are starting to look ahead to what the end of El Niño means for production next year. The El Niño is expected to wane starting in spring. In some years it moves to the opposite pattern, called La Niña, and in other years it stays neutral (neither of the two).
Early predictions are not clear which of the two is more likely but some climatologists note that after three of the last five strong El Niños, the pattern shifted to a La Niña. If this does happen, the Midwest could have hot, dry weather which could reduce grain yields and perhaps improve prices. You can read an article discussing this at AgWeb here.
AgroClimate has a couple of fact sheets which discuss the impacts of El Niño and La Niña on crops. You can find them at the links below.
