Grain Gleanings

 

 

Spring Ahead

By Rebecca Johnson, Grain Location Manager, Salem

Springtime is quickly approaching with daylight savings time starting this coming Sunday morning at 2:00 am.  It won’t be long and spring agronomy season will be in full swing.

As the weather continues to warm up it is a good time to check your bins and make sure your grain is still in good condition.  If you have not taken any tops off your bins, it may be a good time to take a few loads out of your bins especially if you can see a crust forming or start to smell a mildew odor coming from the bins.

Most county roads have posted their road limits as the frost has come out of the ground so before you start hauling grain you may want to check what the road limits are in your area and adjust your loads accordingly.

When I began writing this article the grains started the week on an upswing; will see if the upward trend continues through the week and how the WASDE report on Friday affects the markets.  Reach out to any of our grain originators for your marketing needs. It’s never too late to start discussing new crop marketing strategies for harvest 2024.

Wishing you all a safe and productive spring!

3/8/2024

 

 

Grains

By Hunter Behrens, Grain Originator, Lyons

The end of the month on leap year is here and has the market trading mixed today (Thursday). The market started off lower, then back to the upside around 10am, but now around noon hour corn is unchanged and beans lower again down a nickel. US stocks are overall lower with congress avoiding shutdown. US Dollar lower, crude lower and cattle off their high. Wednesday we saw some managed funds do some selling of 1,000 soy oil and buying 4,000 corn; 2,000 soybeans; and 3,000 soymeal. Estimates of the managed funds are short 340,000 corn; 152,000 soybeans; 39,000 soymeal; and 57,000 soy oil. Weekly US corn sales estimated at 600-1,200 mt and soybean exports estimated at 100-600 mt. China continues to buy corn from Ukraine and soybeans from Brazil since they still offer a discount compared to US values. Brazil farmer selling has slowed due to warm and dry weather. Foreign demand has been non-existent in corn we have bought a total of 2.7 MMT vs 4.5 MMT at this time last year. Chinese only has 80k tonnes of unshipped corn purchases vs 430k tonnes last year. Corn needs to average roughly 18.3 million bushels a week till the end of August to reach the USDA’s 2.1-billion-bushel export projection. Hopefully some increases in export demand can help perk up the market along with these oversold conditions we have reached.

3/1/2024

 

 

Big Crop Long Tails

By Matt Morog, Grain Department Manager

It continues to feel like we are still in the beginning of a low-price cycle for grains. Unfortunately, the job of the market is to inflict as much pain and damage as possible on whoever is more vulnerable. The past three years it was the consumer and end user, and as the saying goes the cure for high prices is high prices. Now the market’s job is to wreak financial hardship on the grower. For old crop I don’t have a magic solution to unsold grain. Look at your finances and set some dates as to when you’ll make sales based on capital needs. The only bullish card we have is a weather event this spring/summer, but I’m concerned as to where that rally begins from. Three years ago, corn futures were hovering between $3.80-$3.40 from March to July of 2020. I think that the $3.50 futures area is going to act like a magnet attracting the market towards. Old crop soybeans are in much of the same camp. After two good South American crops world balance sheets are healthy. We are going to need a major US crop issue for us to right the ship.

Looking towards new crops I’d be looking at some average seasonal pricing to take the guesswork out of it. We offer in-house ASP contracts, and our grain team would be happy to explain in more detail. There are no gimmicks to them, and they are very easy to understand. We do offer more complex contracts, but for many, ASP contracts offer a solid foundation for grain marketing needs. New crop corn is still north of $4 for the time being. We’ll likely get some planting carrot, but in years where the expected carryout is growing that pricing surge, but from what starting point.

2/23/2024

 

 

 

 

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

  • Access scale tickets, contracts, bushel balances, cash bids and market information— all from your smartphone.
  • 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. The Scale Ticket interface is easy to understand and tracks grade factors 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 will be able to access Grains, Livestock and Ethanol Futures from CME or MGEX.

You can find the App on Google Play for Android devices or the App Store for iPhones by searching for Central Farmers. Download it today!

 
Click here for the ADM Advantage website
 
Click here for the ADM Crop Insurance Information
 
 
Ask us how you can help keep U.S. ag exports competitive.

FREMAR LLC strongly recommends farmers verify their seed varieties are approved for significant export markets.
We plan to selectively test loads delivered to our grain handling facilities.
We reserve the right to reject crops with unapproved traits.
If you have seed that is not approved for significant export markets, we encourage you to check with your seed sales representative to see if your order can be exchanged for seed that is approved for global use.
 
 
FREMAR LLC will NOT accept any treated soybeans at any of our facilities in grain deliveries.
It is ILLEGAL to dump treated beans at ANY grain facility!
 
 
Due to a recent South Dakota court ruling, all Voluntary Credit Sale contracts (DP, Deferred Pay, Basis), the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Warehouse Division has notified FREMAR LLC and Central Farmers Cooperative that all Voluntary Credit Sales Contracts must be signed within 30 days of final delivery.
 
 
If FREMAR LLC or Central Farmers does not receive the signed contract at our elevator within 30 days,
the bushels on these contracts must be cashed out at the closing price on that date
and the check will be mailed to the producer.
  
Please click here for the official South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Warehouse Division Ruling 

 
 
 
The CBOT trading hours are:
Sunday - Thursday night hours are 7:00pm - 7:45am. 
Monday - Friday day hours are 8:30am - 1:15pm.

Central Farmers Cooperative continues to purchase grain for all locations while the CBOT is open and closed.
The extended hours continue to put more volatility into the market.  We encourage our customers to continue to utilize our offer system.  Your offers have the potential to be filled at any time while the market is open.
Please call your local Central Farmers Cooperative location to place your offers as well as any questions you may have.
Thanks as always for your patronage.
 

 



Origination Staff

Matt Morog
Grain Department Manager
605-871-3809
Jeff Moritz
Lead Grain Merchandiser
605-661-1106
Jake Moret
Grain Originator
605-941-8141
 
Hunter Behrens
Lyons Grain Originator
605-543-5400
 
  
Christopher Owen
Dimock Location
605-928-3393
 
Terry Kampshoff
Canova Location Manager
605-661-7724
Mike Sayler
Freeman Location Manager
605-360-7880
  
Rebecca Johnson
Salem Elevator Location Manager
605-425-2280