Commodity Marketing
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Some Interesting Wheat Production Facts
Kansas State University has a site called ag manager info and there is always some interesting tidbits that they have on the site. They recently posted an article on the world wheat market supply and demand trends. I thought I would recap the article with what I found interesting. For the current year, total acres […]
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Russia is Going for Dominance in Wheat
I had a post from about two weeks ago about the USDA predicting that Russia would become a larger exporter of wheat than the US by about 2019. Bloomberg Businessweek just wrote an article on how Russia is fighting for World Dominance – in Wheat!. The article recaps that Russia is able to sell their […]
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Net Revenue Per Acre Trumps Yield Per Acre
I was watching Agday yesterday and noted in the business section that Mark Gold of Top-Third Marketing was the guest and had a discussion on how gross revenue per acre was more important than yield per acre. His insight is that it can be more important to budget for getting top marketing dollars for your […]
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What’s Your Basis
I am a firm proponent of using hedges to lock in your cost of production when you can. However, you must not just look at what your commodity price is trading at on the relevant exchange. You need to determine what your basis is and how it compares to the historical trends. Basis is the difference between […]
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Will Farmers Reduce Production
Agriculture Online has a good quick article on whether farmers will reduce their production levels in 2010 due to the large crop that was grown in 2009. Corn has rallied about a $1 since early September and soybeans have gone up about $2. However, the government report on Tuesday led to limit down price moves […]
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Hedging vs. Forward Cash Contracting
Most ag grain producers are able to lock in prices by using either a hedge or a forward contract. Forward cash contracting involves a commitment to deliver grain to a grain buyer at a future time. Both alternatives can be used to: price before and after harvest; establish a return for storage of grain; and […]
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Is Condo Storage for You
Most farmers are of an independent nature, however, in one area they may want to consider partnering up on is grain storage. The decision to build on-farm grain storage can be very complex. Farms that are mid-size or smaller usually find it cheaper to continue to bring their grain to an elevator versus storing it on […]
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CRI Trumps APH
Crop insurance has been available to farmers for many years. Until recent years most of this insurance was based upon Actual Production History (APH). Insurance products based upon Crop Revenue Insurance (CRI) have been introduced to enhance and/or replace APH. Marcia Taylor of DTN/Progressive farmer had a good blog on how one farmer in Ohio […]
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5 + 5 + 5 = Home Run
Many farmers do a good job of benchmarking their operations to other operations in the same state of region. By doing this benchmarking, they are able to see where they are either behind or ahead of other farmers. Some get discouraged trying to get out of the middle range into the top 20%. Most think […]
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Take Advantage of a Weather Rally
We had a good weather rally back in the spring when it was apparent that the come would be planted lack due to the rain in Illinois and other areas. It appears that we might be having a weather rally due to the frost coming this weekend. I would highly suggest that you review your […]