Mark's Market Talk for September 21, 2026

We saw slower-paced grain trading last week. December corn ended the week 3 cents lower while November beans were 7 cents higher. Traders seem to be waiting for more harvest data out of the Midwest, while the weather has slowed harvest to a crawl. With the USDA and several companies lowering the national corn yield, the trade is looking for confirmation of this before they move the market higher.

Export sales have slowed now that Argentina has corn to sell. However, we will likely recapture those sales this winter. We still offer the highest quality and most dependable supply in the world. Bean traders are looking toward the upcoming Xi/Trump meeting for confirmation of further sales to China. Perhaps there will be some corn sales and other agricultural products included as well. China has been a regular buyer of beans lately, but they still have a way to go to meet earlier expectations. We will also need to see the shipment of these beans before we can say it is a done deal.

At the start of last year’s harvest, local grain bids had corn in the $3.65 range and beans in the $9.45 range. Last week, local corn was $1.00 better at around $4.65, while beans were almost $2.00 higher. With high yields, most should be at break-even or better, which will be good. Unfortunately, input prices for the ’27 crops are higher yet.