Mark's Market Talk for October 13, 2025

Things went downhill late last week and corn and beans both closed lower for the week. December corn was down 6 cents while beans ended the week down 11 cents. Most of this loss came on Friday when it was announced that President Trump and Chinese leader XI will not meet as planned at the end of the month. It appears the trade war is escalating as both sides are using new tactics to punish each other. Meanwhile our sales of beans to China remains at zero and at this moment it looks to stay that way. South America is still able to handle China’s needs for soybeans due to the large harvest they had last season. Meanwhile their spring planting season is well underway for their first crop beans, and it is currently ahead of schedule. This will put even more pressure on the price of US beans which in turn will cause major hardships for the US producers. The government is promising some money, but that will only be a band aid. Congress needs to get the government back open for business so they can address some issues that could help the farm economy. The expansion of biofuels would really help. They need to finish their work on E15 and get the production of aviation fuel off the ground and headed toward the finish line. This looks like a no brainer. The demand is already there and waiting for all the product we can produce. Companies are waiting for congress to address the tax credits that are needed to get this off the ground. Perhaps we need to redirect some of our trade resources and spend more time developing better relations with countries other than China. As South America exports more beans to China, it will open an opportunity for us to serve countries that South America may overlook in the future. The farm price crunch has 2 major parts. The low price of our communities, which has been well covered in the news. The other part is the high cost of crop inputs. Everything you will buy for next year’s crop will be higher than you paid this past season. Fertilizer alone will be 35 to 50 percent higher than last year. Showing a profit on the 2025 crop will be very difficult. Showing one for the 2026 crop may be impossible. None of us like dealing with bad news, but we need to face the facts here and start working on our survival plans. It will take some difficult decisions to make things work, Farmers are a tough breed, and most will survive this difficult time.