As we approach the last days of summer and children head back to school, we get into the mindset of Fall Harvest. New Crop 2021 officially starts tomorrow, and the bids are reflecting that. Although I’m not quite ready for pumpkin spice everything, I am eager to see what this harvest will bring. The conversations most grain farmers are having with the dairy farmers currently revolves around chopping dates and tons to predict what their corn harvest is going to look like. What are your theories on the correlation? Let us know what you are seeing and hearing about predicted harvest dates and results. Here is what the traders are telling us.
From close last Friday 8/27, the corn futures are down almost 30c for fall delivery. The corn crop appears to look above average. There has been no change in the good-to-excellent rating for the prior week which is holding at 60%, almost in line with last year at 62%. Corn is progressing a little faster than last year at 91% dough, 59% dent, and 9% mature. We are still waiting to hear results from damages due to Hurricane Ida. The hopes were that the south was going to have early harvest corn to help bridge the gap from the 2020 to 2021 corn stocks.
We have also seen a drastic drop in the futures price of beans. The November board closed Friday at $13.33 and currently on Tuesday morning we are at $12.88. Beans are 56% good-to-excellent which is unchanged from last week but down 10% from 2020. Beans are also maturing faster than 2020, with 93% setting pods and 9% dropping leaves. China continues to make purchases for beans; however, bean exports are falling shorter than expected week-over-week.
As markets are changing, farmers should still be focusing on the profit that is still available for ’20, ’21, and ’22 crops. Talk with your Grain Marketing Specialist to see about making sales and the options we have that could work for all sizes of operations.
Have a great day!
Kasey Baker