Mark's Market Talk

We have entered a new year, and I am sure it will be full of challenges. Covid remains front page news around the world. Supply chains are still twisted and broken. We have gone from an unemployment problem 2 years ago to an employment problem today. Everywhere you go there are help wanted signs. The push to raise the minimum wage has stalled as supply and demand is pushing wages higher without the government being involved. Weather issues throughout the world are affecting commodity prices every week. Prices for our production have been very good the past year. Now the price of inputs has soared for various reasons. Supply and demand is affecting fertilizer prices while a shortage of raw ingredients is causing chemical prices to rise. There are some products where the first question is, can I get it. The second question is what will it cost. We are fortunate we are coming off a near record crop along with high prices. This has allowed farmers to get set up for the coming year without putting it all on the line. However, if you are not careful you may get caught up thinking this money will last a long time. To date there has not been a lot of new crop sales made. Last week local October beans went back above 12.00. We bought a few, but not very many. New crop corn has struggled to stay above 5.00 local. With the high cost of inputs, I don’t think that will be high enough to attract the acres we will need. South America weather is still in the forefront today as Southern Brazil and Argentina continues to stay hot and dry. Meanwhile a large part of Brazil still has a record setting crop coming on. Worldwide demand for food will continue to grow and that means the world will count on the US to produce grain, food, and fuel. Every week, month, and year there will be money to be made. Make sure you have your plan in place so you can capture your share.