Mark's Market Talk

Last week was a nonevent week in the grain markets. December corn ended the week down 3 cents while beans were down 4 cents. News was scarce as harvest heads to the finish line and with the clear forecast most of the crop will be harvested by this week’s end. Basis levels tell us a lot of this crop went into the bin and the doors are firmly closed. It appears farmers have sold enough to meet their immediate cash needs and will hold their remaining grain into next year. Fall agronomy season is in full swing. Dry and lime have been going on for a couple of weeks and anhydrous will start this week. Late September it looked like we were facing a long and difficult harvest. The late crop planting last spring put us behind causing the corn to carry more moisture than normal. Then the weather turned hotter and drier, and we have been speeding toward the finish ever since. Now instead of harvest stretching to December it looks like it should be over well before Thanksgiving. Right now, it looks like the fall application season will also go fast and furious giving everyone some time to tackle jobs we all have trouble getting done. This will include conservation work, fencing, and the most important task, the honey do list. It will also give us time to concentrate on marketing goals not just for the 22 crops, but also the crop we will plant next spring. Inputs are still very expensive, and a person needs to protect this expense by locking some crop prices in. A lot of producers are hesitant to price right now because of the extremely dry soil and are fearful if it does not rain prices will go up. Yes, this may happen, but the weather pattern can change almost overnight and suddenly prices head south in a hurry. Having some crop priced to cover part of your expenses will give you some piece of mind. We all know it can get wet a lot faster than it can get droughty. Now for a brain teaser. The month of May never begins or ends on the same day of the week as any other month in a given year. Go ahead and check it out, I did but I cannot explain how it works. I need to have the Grandkids explain how this works.