Grain Gleanings

Safety Tips

By Rebecca Johnson, Elevator Location Manager, Salem

School bells are ringing, and we are inching closer to the start of harvest!

Where did the summer go?  School starts at the end of next week for some of the surrounding school districts and by the 26^th of August all schools in SD including those of higher education will be in full swing.  As school starts farmers and agriculture-related businesses start to prepare for the upcoming harvest that is just around the corner.  Given our unseasonably cool temps and early excessive rains harvesting may be pushed back a couple of weeks from the “normal” starting dates of harvest.   Still a little too soon to know. 

Prices have been the hot topic of conversation lately and unfortunately not for the good.  Let’s focus our thoughts on something we can control to a point.  Safety and what we need to do to keep ourselves and others safe.  Below I have listed a few safety tips to hopefully keep you safe.

1. Try and get an adequate amount of sleep. Experts recommend 7 hours of sleep a night for an adult. 9-12 hours for those ages 6-17.
2. Be aware of your surroundings and always take a walk around your equipment and/or vehicles before operating it.
3. Be aware of blind spots and hard to see areas especially corners that have trees or crops growing making visibility difficult.
4. Be a defensive driver.
5. Buckle up.
6. Make sure your lights and turn signals are in good working condition.
7. Make sure appropriate signs are visible and placed on equipment as needed (slow moving vehicle, wide load, etc.).
8. Shut off all moving parts before working on them.
9. De-energize equipment before working on it.
10. Practice good bin safety.
11. Slowdown in construction zones and be prepared to stop.
12. Eat well balanced meals.
13. Take regular breaks for both your mental and physical well-being.
14. Focus on one task at a time.

Always err on the side of caution for if you don’t get everything you want to be done in a day it will wait for you until tomorrow. The more you push to get done in a day the greater the risk of an accident or injury is likely to occur.

At the end of the day, we at Fremar LLC/CFC want all to arrive home safe and sound!  Wishing those in school a great year and to our patrons a bountiful and safe Harvest.  Thank you all for your business as we look forward to providing services to you again this harvest season.

8/9/2024

Grain Update

By Hunter Behrens, Grain Originator, Lyons

The agriculture market was mostly higher yesterday (7/25) following a week of steady increase in price action both in corn and beans. Rallies can be contributed to some Trump trade, improved demand and hot/dry forecast in the western corn belt. Triple digit heat in the northern plains in Montana reached 105-109 and some of those hot temperatures crept into Western Dakota’s. High 90’s and low 100’s will continue to be widespread in the Southern Plains and far Western Corn Belt little to no rain forecasted in that region will further stress unirrigated row crops. Above normal temperatures are predicted throughout the whole United States and expected to last through the first week in August. That’s enough on weather for now.

Corn finished nearly three cents higher on yesterday's trade putting Sep corn at $4.06. The next resistance level for Sep corn is the July high at $4.13¾. December corn closed at $4.20¾ with resistance at $4.26½. Speculative traders are believed to have bought 25k contracts this week, however, still hold a historically large short position at 320k contracts. Corn exports at 42 million bushels are in line with expectations. Onto soybeans they closed 15½ cents higher in yesterday's session putting November beans at $10.79½. Strong export sales and increased price action in soybean meal along with weather has helped the bean rally this week.

7/26/2024

Marketing Opportunities

By Jeff Moritz, Lead Grain Merchandiser

Wheat harvest has started in earnest this week and by all accounts yields have been pleasantly good. Customers have been reporting yields in the 70-95bpa range. Hopefully, those results are a positive foreshadowing for our Fall Crops.

Speaking of Fall Crops, we just finished the pricing of our Short Dated Average Seasonal Price program for Corn and Soybeans. Prices ended up being very respectable as compared to the current New Crop Market
as Corn Price is $4.62 December Futures versus a current December Futures price of $4.08. Soybean price is $11.60 November Futures versus a current November Futures price of $10.45. Our Longer-Term Average Seasonal Price Contract is still in Progress, but currently Corn Price stands at $4.65 December Futures and Soybeans are at $11.64 November Futures. If these prices are of interest to you and you would like to know more about signing up for next season’s programs and how the contract works, please contact your local CFC Originator and we would be happy to discuss it further with you.

Corn and Soybean markets are finding it difficult to gain much footing against the seasonal price tendency during this time of year. Charts are showing oversold for soybeans and corn is just now climbing out of oversold conditions which could be that markets have found a short-term bottom. The current prices also trail the 20 day moving averages in a meaningful way. Corn and Soybean prices tend to gravitate back to the 20-day moving average whether above or below. Also, The Fund short, Commercial Long are at historical (record) positions.

While I do not think the market is necessarily set up for rally of significant proportions at this point, I do think the set up of these events just mentioned could provide marketing opportunities that should be acted upon should we see any meaningful price strength. Have a great rest of the summer!

7/19/2024

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

• Access scale tickets, contracts, bushel balances, cash bids and market information— all from your smartphone.
• 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. The Scale Ticket interface is easy to understand and tracks grade factors 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 will be able to access Grains, Livestock and Ethanol Futures from CME or MGEX.

You can find the App on Google Play for Android devices or the App Store for iPhones by searching for Central Farmers. Download it today!