Grain Exchange – 3-2-2021
Here in southeast Wisconsin we experienced a bright sunny day with even a few birds chirping. This month is off to a great start with March 1 being the first official day of the long-awaited merger between Landmark and Countryside. March also offers a fresh perspective on grain marketing and production as the USDA’s Risk Management Agency has set the insurance prices for this growing season as of the ending of February. The base price for corn this year will be $4.58, the highest level since 2014 and beans will be $11.87 the highest level we’ve experienced since 2013. These levels offer the producer confidence in improved profitability, meaning we will likely see producers pouring into this crop and adjusting practices to max out production unlike recent years.
There are several reasons to have a marketing plan for your grain this year, with the potential for a large US crop being one of them. New crop projections for South America continue to be historically high. US export FOB prices for corn, soybeans & wheat are no longer the cheapest in the world. Large commercials are historically short corn and bean positions indicating US farmers continue to push along farm inventory sales at a high volume.
Take a deep breath… we aren’t saying the sky is falling and we surely do not want you over commit in sales to a crop that is not planted yet. Daily market chatter will keep the trade chopping around, but we’ll likely need new bullish news to push the markets about our current range. We would like to encourage you to have price orders in and a plan in place to cover the risk for this upcoming year. You can contact your local Grain Marketing Specialist to put together a marketing plan.