Ed Usset’s Advice for Grain Marketers

Edward Usset, grain marketing specialist with the U of M Center for Farm Financial Management, notes that since the start of the year, Dec ’07 corn is about 50 cents higher and Nov ’07 soybeans are about $1 higher.  Here’s what he had to say about the marketing situation going into the end of February:

“Are you like me?  Do you find $4 Dec corn and $8 Nov soybeans difficult prices to ignore?  Over the past few days I have been staring out the window trying to figure out which of the following two scenarios would cause me greater regret; (1) selling $4 corn pre-harvest and seeing the market go to $4.75 or (2) NOT selling $4 corn and seeing the market go to $3.25. I’ve concluded that I can live with the first scenario because I still have more to sell of the 2007 crop and the out years of 2008 and beyond are still open.  The second scenario bothers me so I decided to take action. Based on Friday’s close of $4.13 Dec’07 corn and $8.16 Nov’07 soybeans, I priced another 20,000 and 5,000 bushels of corn and soybeans respectively.  My average selling prices just took a big step forward. I have 15,000 bushels of corn and 5,000 bushels of soybeans left to sell on spring decision dates.”

Usset says he hopes to post his 2008 pre-harvest corn and soybean plans by early March.  You can find the specifics on all of his pre and post-harvest marketing plans online at www.cffm.umn.edu/GrainMarketing/MarketingPlans.aspx .