December corn

Eye on Markets

Markets are back open today after the Columbus Day holiday, we’re keeping an eye on Wall Street and CME Group in Chicago. It looks like combines rolled well into the night across a wide area of the Midwest, but not in this area. Heavy rains flooding, halting the harvest and even some college football games. But you would not be …

William and Sam Cargill

William and Sam Cargill: The Beginning of a Grain Storage Legacy

Grain Storage Becomes a Growing Challenge As grain production expanded across the American Midwest during the mid-1800s, farmers faced a growing problem: they were producing more grain than they could immediately use or sell. Without adequate storage, farmers could be forced to sell their crops simply because they had nowhere to keep them. The development of additional grain storage capacity …

Grain trade

Grain Trade Updates

Grain trade will have a couple of hours to trade numbers from today’s monthly crop report, and then we’ll have to wait until Tuesday when markets reopen. Columbus Day holiday on Monday, markets will be closed, as well as banks, post offices, and government offices. Most analysts expect USDA to lower corn production from the September report. Average estimates have …

projections

USDA Price Projections

USDA makes price projections each February and what they think prices will be at harvest time for corn and soybeans. This year could be going against a longer-term trend. Corn and soybean harvest prices have exceeded those February projections just three of the last ten years, but this year different. Currently, 2026 corn harvest prices are 7 to 8 percent …

Planning

Planning Started for Next Years Crop

This is the time of the year producers begin to finalize plans for next growing season, even though the crop is not even in the bin yet, but begin to make plans and place seed orders for 2027. Changes continue in the seed business, keeping track of who owns what brands can be a full-time job. In 2019, for example, …

grain stocks

Grain Stocks Report

The end of the month and the end of the quarter could make for an interesting end to the week. Hard to believe we begin the fourth quarter tomorrow. We end the third quarter today with the quarterly grain stocks report. We expect few surprises, but it is always interesting to see how much grain is still on farm storage …

grain stocks

Corn and Soybean Futures

This year’s corn and soybean crop not even in the bin yet, but bottom-line grain analysts are keeping an eye on 2027 December corn 2027 November soybean futures. A Rising tide lifts all ships. It said networks in the grain trade as well. Next December 2027 corn futures have risen from early summer lows to a 52-week high recently over …

Grain trade

A Look at the Recent Grain Trade

The grain trade looks to have found some support levels that look to hold longer term. Looking at the grain trade today, December corn holding the 5.15 level or better into next week. November soybeans 12.75 or better. And looking at the wheat trade in Chicago, December 7.18 or better. Elsewhere, that VIX or fear index on Wall Street, back …

Joseph Dart grain elevator

Joseph Dart and the Birth of the Grain Elevator

How Buffalo Helped Transform the Grain Trade The movement of grain from farms to markets has always depended on transportation and efficient handling systems. In the early 1840s, a major innovation emerged in Buffalo, New York, that would dramatically change the way grain was moved, stored and loaded onto ships. The story of the modern grain elevator can be traced …

Corn

U.S. Supply and Demand Estimates for Corn

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released its September supply and demand estimates, providing an updated look at the nation’s corn outlook. In this report, World Agricultural Outlook Board Chair, Mark Jekanowski discusses the latest changes in the domestic corn balance sheet. “Looking ahead to the new marketing year, reduction in yield by about 2.2 bushels per acre, and it …