Grain Gleanings

Winter Grain Movement

By Matt Morog, Grain Department Manager

With the nice temperatures and recent rally in the market, grain movement around the country is at a very high pace. This is causing basis to really pull back on the front end. Soybean and corn processors are getting overrun with spot bushels. This is not only causing the basis to soften, but long lines and reduced hours. Consider looking at the deferred slots if looking to lock in a carry on contracts bushels. We at CFC are paying around 5c more per month for grain delivered down the curve.

Next week we have an updated Delayed Price policy taking place for both corn and soybeans. Corn will be 5 days free followed by 5 cents per month. Soybeans are going to FREE Delayed Price until October 3. Corn space is somewhat limited as the customers we have corn sold to are many of the same spots going full on the front end. We did sell a lot of soybeans at harvest time and have continued pressing outbound logistics giving us a chance to offer free delayed price at both our Marion and Lyons locations. The reason for only Marion and Lyons is our other locations have smaller flowable bean space available. If we run into space issues ourselves, contract bushels will be given priority to delayed price storage space.  

1/17/2025

Check Your Grain Bins

By Rebecca Johnson, Elevator Location Manager, Salem

Wow where did 2024 go? As I reflect on 2024, I want to thank our customers for their patronage and look forward to working with you in 2025.

We have been blessed with mild temperatures, a little bit of rain and just a dusting of snow so far this fall and winter.  With all the fog though we have had we will have to see if the old wives’ tale holds true for a lot of precipitation in March.

The grains closed strong on 12/31/2024 with corn futures off the March @ 4.59 and soybean futures off the March @ 10.11.  Thursday the grains opened down a little. We will have to see what influences the grains going forward.  A few things that may affect the markets are weather in South America, the inauguration, threat of war, Tariff implementations or lack of, and inflation/recession, just to name a few.

If you are contemplating what to do marketing wise with your grain either on delayed pricing in the elevator or sitting in your bins, please reach out to one of our grain originators. We have several marketing options to choose from.

For those that still have grain on the farm, if you have not checked your bins since harvest it is a good idea to check and make sure that it is still in good condition and that all your doors on your bins are closed tightly especially on top of your bins.  It is also a good idea to take a few loads out of each bin just to get the tops off in case there is moisture on the top.

Wishing all a Healthy and Happy New Year!

1/3/2025

A Gift

By Hunter Behrens, Grain Originator, Lyons

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the holidays with family and friends. The day after Christmas the commodity market received a gift with corn finishing a nickel higher and beans up 16 cents. Some Ag Fundamentals, export Sales will be released due to the US holiday, estimates below. March corn closed above the 200-day moving average with May futures closing above 4.60. Corn has experienced the more bullish headlines than other row crops with strong exports, solid ethanol production, and the potential for production cuts in both the US and Argentina. US corn yield estimates could pull back from the 183.1 bu/acre November/December WASDE estimates. Dryer than normal weather in Argentina could drop their corn production below 50 MMT depending on the next 30 days of rain. Soybean meal up $13/ton on the news of less than perfect weather in Argentina. Argentina is the world’s largest meal exporter, and any news of a production loss would merit a meal rally. The 40% of old crop beans that the US farmer still needs to sell could keep a cap on the basis value hikes the processors could introduce after this 2-week, $25/ton meal rally. March corn could find some support after it closes above the 200-day moving average after 3 separate rejections. If we continue to hear solid corn demand, and possibly the lowering of US corn production in the January WASDE, corn now on a golden cross, watch in the coming month. 

12/27/2024

Central Farmers has a mobile app that provides real time account information at your hands. By partnering with barchart, we are able to empower you, our producers, to make informed and quicker business decisions with CFC. With our app you can:

• Access scale tickets virtually in real time, allowing you to know how many bushels you have delivered and how much still needs to be delivered. You are able to see the grade factors on each scale ticket such as Moisture and Test Weight.
• Access your contracts that you have with any CFC location. You will be able to see the status of any contract to find out whether it is filled or is still open.
• Access real-time bushel balances of your grain across all CFC locations.
• Access delayed cash bids for all of our CFC locations

You can find our App on Google Play for Android devices or the App Store for iPhones by searching for Central Farmers. Scan the QR code below for quicker download process. Download it today!