Friday July 31st, 2009

Commodities posted modest gains again today as the dollar continued it's lower slide followed by a rebound in crude oil. On the day funds bought 4,000 contracts of corn and 2,000 contracts of soybeans. Tight soy supplies and big Chinese demand continue to add support to the soybean market. Some light rains are seen across the belt the second half of next week. Totals look a bit lower than the AM run was showing. Bigger rains are expected across the belt late in the weekend and early on next week and this is wetter than what the AM run was showing due to the ridge not being as strong.

ACRE Program

We have been fielding several questions lately about the new ACRE Program and want to provide you with links to information:

Farm Gate: ACRE

Iowa State Acre Information

ACRE Excel Spreadsheet Calculator

Sign-up deadline is August 14th, 2009

Please Note: Elburn Coop does not endorse any FSA program, we are providing the above links for informational proposes only and make no representation to their accuracies.

Chris Spurlock

Wednesday July 28th, 2009

Corn closed mixed on Wednesday with everything except the nearby contract falling lower amid falling crude oil, a firmer dollar and "ideal" conditions in the Midwest for pollination. Soy futures also sagged in the new crop months and wheat closed lower as crude oil fell nearly 6 percent, China's stock market tumbled 5 percent, U.S. equities declined and the dollar climbed against a basket of currencies. Traders cited several reasons for soy and grains to come under pressure, including nervousness about Commodity Futures Trading Commission hearings in Washington aimed at tightening regulation of speculators in the markets.

Chris Spurlock

Tuesday July 28th, 2009

I read today that corn needs 50 frost free days after silking to avoid major yield implications. If everything was pollinated and we received a normal frost, only a very small portion in North Dakota and northern Minnesota would be affected. If you assumed a frost 7-10 days earlier than normal and all corn was pollinated then good swaths of Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and the northern third of Iowa would be affected. Since all corn is not pollinated as of Monday's report only 55% of the crop silked, you can see there are all kinds of problems that could occur with an early or even normal frost.

The corn market wants to look outside today and see rain and normal to below normal temperatures during pollination and continue to lower prices. Soybeans had a nice Turn-Around-Tuesday as soyoil and the talk of both India and China purchasing it drove the entire soy complex higher.

We received some horrible pictures of the devastation during storms in extreme NE Iowa last Friday. There was reported tennis ball size hail on approximately 10,000 acres and other hail damage on a total area of 320,000 acres. I have attached a picture along with this post.

Scott Meyer