Grain Gleanings

'Do Something'

By Jeff Moritz, Lead Grain Merchandiser

Mother Nature has blessed us in the last week with some much need precipitation. Most customers that I have talked with are pleased with the moisture coverage on their farms. Now we just need some sun, warmth and a little drier pattern to control the weeds that are a comin’.

Many of us, like myself, have been waiting on these grain markets to ‘Do Something’ with positive price action over the last week or two. It seems this week both corn and soybeans have begun to show some life. A larger than expected Fund short position as the US is just starting the crop production cycle, sustained export demand for US corn, China weather and a weaker US dollar all contributed to the corn and soybean price advance. While I believe there will be an opportunity over the next 40-60 days to get some marketing executed as price seasonals come into play, the headwinds that are with us currently will likely persist somewhat. Most of the trade is of the opinion that the US will have enough old crop corn to carry us through to new crop and the fact that ideas are still in play that the US has 95-97 million acres of corn coming to the market in a few months. With soybeans, processor margins continue to slide as both meal and oil values fade. Global supplies of oil seeds are still very ample, while still respecting some of the heavy rains that have occurred in Argentina recently.  

With that being said, I think some constructive price targets would be the 100 day moving average in July corn at $4.79, the February price highs for December corn in the $4.70 to $4.80 range, the February price levels in July soybeans in the $10.75-$10.95 range and for new crop November soybeans, the February price high of $10.70 to $11.00. Let’s make a commitment when these marketing opportunities present themselves from the corn and soybean markets that we in turn, ‘Do Something’.

On behalf of all of us at CFC I wish you and your families an enjoyable Memorial weekend as we remember all those who have lost their lives in protection of the freedoms and pursuits we will enjoy in the coming days. 

5/23/2025

Unseasonable Highs

By Matt Morog, Grain Department Manager

Going through a few unseasonable factors Thursday. One being the markets; they historically don’t make a new crop high until May through July. There is some concern this will be an odd year with the intended acres being put in the ground extremely fast and early. There very likely could be another weather scare during the summer, but with the rain the Midwest has experienced over the past two weeks it will take a bit.

There’s still a lot of time between now and harvest so I would not rush into selling all the corn today at these values. If there is a need to move grain though to keep up with shipments, basis is looking fairly good across our territory. Low prices have stagnated movement thus making basis do most of the work.

I dislike doing the wait and see approach, but giving up on corn this early doesn’t make me feel like that’s the correct move. A possible solution to the current market is to make use of our minimum price or min/max contracts. Both would allow you to reduce your risk, while taking advantage of a portion of a potential rally.

Give our grain originators a call if you would like to discuss other alternative contracts as well, such as accumulators and bonus plus.  

5/16/2025

Let The Growing Begin!

By Rebecca Johnson, Elevator Location Manager, Salem

What nice rains we had in April. The weather has warmed up just in time for planting.  The forecast for the next ten days looks like plenty of warm weather with wind of course but no predicted precipitation.  If the forecast stays as predicted a lot of farmers around the area should be seeing completion of planting by the end of next week, which would be ahead of the 5-year average.

Weather may be a factor affecting the grain markets this week.  So far old crop beans futures have dipped 18.25 cents from Monday to close off the day on Wednesday.  Old crop corn has also dipped 18.25 cents in the same time frame.  New crop futures for beans are down 9.25 cents and new crop corn is down 10.25 cents.  There was a little upswing in the market for awhile Wednesday morning with news of a potential trade deal between the US and China, but the market dropped lower as the day went on.  We will have to wait and see what Monday’s WASDE says and how it affects the grain markets.  The report comes out at 11 am central time.

Do you still have grain on storage at the elevator or in your bins at home and just not sure what the best marketing tool is for you? Feel free to stop in or call to discuss options or reach out to our grain originators to find out what is available.

Wishing all of you a safe rest of your planting season. Thank You for your continued patronage with Fremar LLC and CFC.

5/9/2025

Central Farmers has a mobile app that provides real time account information at your hands. By partnering with barchart, we are able to empower you, our producers, to make informed and quicker business decisions with CFC. With our app you can:

• Access scale tickets virtually in real time, allowing you to know how many bushels you have delivered and how much still needs to be delivered. You are able to see the grade factors on each scale ticket such as Moisture and Test Weight.
• Access your contracts that you have with any CFC location. You will be able to see the status of any contract to find out whether it is filled or is still open.
• Access real-time bushel balances of your grain across all CFC locations.
• Access delayed cash bids for all of our CFC locations

You can find our App on Google Play for Android devices or the App Store for iPhones by searching for Central Farmers. Scan the QR code below for quicker download process. Download it today!