Commodity Marketing
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Corn Price is Now Higher Than Wheat!
Historically, wheat prices have generally been higher than corn prices and sometimes the difference can be major. In many years, wheat could be $1 or $2 higher than corn. This is due to two main reasons: Corn was primarily used for feed Wheat was more heavily used for bread and other products directly consumed as […]
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FFSC – Day Two (Session Five)
On purpose, I skipped talking about session four since it was my discussion on income taxes which we have posted on many times already. Session Five was presented by Tim Ohlde, President of Elk State Bank in Clyde, KS on the applications of the FFSC guidelines to Today’s Ag Lending World. He stated that what […]
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FFSC – Day Two (Session Two)
Danny Klinefelter from Texas A & M was the second speaker of the day and his discussion on Peer Advisory Groups and Continuous Management Improvements. The studies from about 1,100 top producers around the US over the last several years attending the TEPAP conference show that only about 50% were using cash flow budgets and […]
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FFSC – Day Two (first session)
The annual conference of the Farm Financial Standards Council just got started this morning. The first speaker of the day was Dan Looker, business editor of Successful Farming and his discussion was on Ag Megatrends. The first Ag Megatrend dealt with Ethanol. Even though the blender credit is most likely being phased out or allowed […]
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Frozen Garbanzo Beans to Hit the Market This Year
I grew up in the Walla Walla area and several farmers are now producing Garbanzo Beans on about a 1,000 acres for the fresh frozen market. Normally, garbanzo beans are held to maturity and harvested dry and then shipped around the world. The Middle East is a large consumer of these beans and in the US they are primarily used […]
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Wheat Market Update with a Northwest Bent
The Northwest Farm Credit Services has just posted a nice four page summary of winter and spring wheat conditions in the Pacific Northwest. This growing region includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. The region has been especially cool and wet this spring with most typical harvest delays of at least two weeks. Stripe rust appears […]
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Report From The Heartland
I have spent most of the time since Saturday in Kansas City, Minneapolis and Fargo. I have seen a lot of water, both in overflowing rivers and standing in the fields. Our 200+ acres of corn north of Kansas City looks great but my farm partner will most likely lose 400 or mores acres due […]
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Ethanol Industry Will Still Be Vibrant Without Tax Credits
Todd Becker, CEO of Omaha-based ethanol producer Green Plains, says ethanol “is still a great fuel” according to an article in the Omaha World-Herald. Ethanol allows for a reduction in demand for foreign oil and is a cleaner burning fuel. At current production rates, ethanol provides more motor fuel for the United States than it […]
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Tidbits From The Kansas City Fed – Part 2
Following our theme of providing tidbits from the Kansas City Fed Report: Milk producers have had at least three plus years of unprofitable operations. The Fed estimated that the average US dairy lost $4 dollars per hundredweight in 2006, made about 50 cents in 2007 and the lost $11, $7 and $4 for 2008-2010. On […]
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Retail Coffee Prices Up 38% in One Year
This week, Smuckers, the makers of Folgers and Dunkin Donuts retail coffee announced an 11% increase in the cost of their coffee. This comes on top of a 10% increase in February, a 9% increase in August of last year and a 4% increase in May of last year. If you apply all of the increases […]