Grain Archives - Page 2 of 3

Posted on December 7, 2021

With 2021 harvest complete, it’s time to focus on bin bushels and 2022 marketing strategies. Grains have traded a lot of volatility this fall. That is why it is important to have a marketing plan and offers in place to capture your target prices. A marketing plan will enable you to manage the unpredictability of grain prices and their associated risks.

A marketing plan can be broken down into 5 easy steps:

Break the total amount you must sell into smaller units
- Post-Harvest: you can only sell the grain that is unpriced in the grain bin.
- Pre-Harvest: Do not sell more than you have insured.
Set price targets
- Be realistic with your target price. Setting prices too high or too low is detrimental to your plan.
- When setting pre-harvest targets you want to price grain above the cost of production.
Set deadlines
- If prices do not rise enough to meet your target, you need to set sales deadlines to ensure you are proactive about pricing.
- Prices typically have a seasonal price pattern. Setting deadlines that correspond with periods when prices are traditionally highest will make marketing easier.
- Cash flow needs also need to be considered when selecting deadlines. Plan ahead and have cash ready by setting sales deadlines ahead of payment dates.
Know your marketing tools
- ALCIVIA offers several types of contracts you can use to sell grain.
- You can work with your grain marketing specialist on what tools you should be using to achieve your targets and sales deadlines.
Share your plan
- Sharing your plan will keep you accountable to your marketing goals.

The goal of a marketing plan is to keep you on track with the targets you set. A plan promotes the use of logical, orderly marketing techniques, and our ALCIVIA team is ready to help you put a plan in place.

Have a great day!
Judy

Posted on November 23, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving! We at ALCIVIA are thankful for all our customers! Harvest is wrapping up with corn and beans both coming in at 95%. The fireworks continue in wheat while corn and beans keep a tight trading range. A reminder that markets take a break Thursday and Friday are only open 8:30 am to 12:05 pm. Make sure to have offers in and working, we have seen crazy trading in the past.

Soybean planting in Brazil is 86% planted, ahead of last year at 81%. Corn planting there is at 91%, same as last year. Ukraine’s corn production increased to a record 40.0 million metric tons from 37.1 with harvest only completed at 80%. Russia exports have dropped 23% over last year at this same time. Australia is seeing heavy rains and effecting the wheat quality there.

While you finish up fall field work and putting equipment away, don’t forget to figure your cost of production for next year. This next year you need to make offers and have a plan with all the volatility in the market. It is never too early to make a marketing plan for bin grain or next fall. Please reach out to Grain Marketing Specialist to set a meeting up very soon.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Melisa

Posted on November 16, 2021

By no means are we finished with harvest, but we have reached the home stretch as we look to be about 90% finished around the U.S. Most people have concluded their bean harvest and are winding down with their corn harvest. Over the weekend we have experienced a few delays with some rain and snow… Yes, you heard me right, snow.

Since the WASDE report came out on November 9th we have seen both corn and beans rally; Corn is up $0.25, and beans are up $0.70. For the most part, people were fairly bearish going into the report, but with the USDA pushing bean yields from 51.5 to 51.2 and decreasing U.S. exports, we actually saw an increase in ending stocks. If you have beans in the bin, don’t be afraid to start letting them go as there seems to be more downside risk than upside. On the other hand, the corn market stayed fairly neutral, but we did see a slight increase in our yields, bumping the national average to 177 bu/acre. However, we did see ending stocks decline by about 7 million with a large volume of that being the increase of corn use in ethanol. With all this being said, it’s a good time to start thinking about forward contracting for 2022.

As we continue to navigate through all the different reports thrown our way and the high input prices, I advise you to start thinking about next year and your profit per acre. If you have any questions, make sure to reach out to your Grain Marketing Specialist to help ensure you’re managing your own risk.

Have a great day!
Jens Lantz

Posted on November 3, 2021

We are full steam ahead into harvest at ALCIVIA grain elevators. We had an early start to harvest and then faced some rain delays. The next couple weeks look like a great opportunity to get a lot of the crop in. The markets have shown some ups and downs as well. All commodities are trading lower today mostly spurred by technical selling and profit taking.

The markets are giving you some opportunity to price some 2022 grain. Wheat prices are soaring higher. It would be a good time to lock in some sales at these levels.

Next Tuesday, November 9^th, is the USDA S/D report.

When harvest is rolling, it is difficult to watch the markets and make marketing decisions. Please let us help you with these decisions. The best way to work the market is using open offers. You decide what price level works and we can put in a working offer to get the bushels sold if they reach that level. Reach out to a grain marketing specialist to get a plan together to price your grain coming in the elevator and the grain stored on the farm. We are here for you.

Have a great day!

Keep the faith and stay safe!

Judy Uhlenhake

Posted on November 1, 2021

by Lacey Seibert
Vice President of Grain & Logistics

In today’s competitive grain markets, ALCIVIA has strong incentives to use a variety of strategies for reducing variable costs of handling grain. Train-loading elevators—high capacity, high-speed grain loading facilities—are a great example of an innovative solution that improves efficiency and provides greater market access to ALCIVIA members. These facilities provide improved operational efficiency, reduced transportation costs, and attract grain from further distances.

ALCIVIA has a 110-car shuttle loading facility on the Union Pacific Railroad, in Evansville, WI. Corn, beans, and wheat trains from Evansville find their way to feeders, processors, and export facilities in Wisconsin, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, the Gulf, and the Pacific Northwest. The Evansville facility has dumping capacity of 50,000 bushels per hour and storage capacity of 10,000,000 bushels. In the 2021 fiscal year, the Evansville team utilized the site’s 40,000 bushel per hour load-out capacity to ship over 15,000,000 bushels.

In Whitewater and Cottage Grove, ALCIVIA loads 25 car sets on the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad. Bushels from these facilities are sold to processors in Wisconsin and Illinois. Between Cottage Grove and Whitewater, ALCIVIA has 6,500,000 bushels of storage capacity. Each dumping 35,000 bushels per hour and loading out 15,000 bu. per hour, these sites collectively moved out 7,000,000 bushels of corn, soybeans, and wheat in the 2021 fiscal year.

On the Canadian Pacific Railway, ALCIVIA’s Fall River, facility, loads 110-car shuttles of corn, soybeans, and wheat to feeders, processors, and export facilities in Illinois, Canada, and the Pacific Northwest. In the 2021 fiscal year, the Fall River facility put it’s 40,000 bushel per hour dumping capacity and it’s 80,000 bushel per hour load-out capacity to work, receiving and shipping out over 8,800,000 bushels making great use of the sites 4,900,000 bushels of storage capacity.

ALCIVIA’s diverse market access through 3 different rail networks has provided members the opportunity to respond to year over year variability in competitive grain markets. The ALCIVIA team is focused on keeping a pulse on which markets are demanding grain and utilizing rail assets to respond. In the last year, ALCIVIA has made significant investments in maintaining the railroad tracks around these facilities as well as the storage and dumping capacities. ALCIVIA’s train-loading elevators are key to its vision of customer success powered by engaged employees.

Posted on October 26, 2021

Waiting on the grain cart or truck driver? Sounds like an opportunity to think about 2022 grain! Harvest is in full swing, and many want to put the blinders on and fill contracts, bins, and do tillage before the rain, snow, and frost. Those are the operational decisions that help lead to the business’s success, but what type of business decisions are being missed by choosing that over looking at markets?

The hot topic is fertilizer. There is no question that the fertilizer market continues to bring a firm presence, but does the grain market bring the same feeling? The December 2022 Chicago futures board traded at $5.40 at its highest point today. ALCIVIA offers a variety of tools in its marketing toolbox to secure a value that fits your operation.

There is a lot of grain still in the field yet, but have you asked yourself the following questions?

Am I continuing to successfully market my 2021 crop? Placing it in storage? Do I have targets in mind for what I need or want out of my crop? If I do, have I placed an offer or made that sale?

Keep rollin’! Happy Harvest.

Dylan

Posted on October 20, 2021

What an awesome week for harvest! Markets continue to be a bit stronger. Make sure to check on your contract status through the customer portal. Are your contracts full and you need to be selling or putting offers in?

With corn harvest under way, the market continues to push stronger. Harvest is moving quickly with 52% nationwide done. The 5-year average at this time is about 41% harvested. Are you watching next fall corn prices? We have plenty of options at ALCIVIA to help you be profitable.

Soybean harvest nationwide is 60% done and with great weather this week will keep the US above the 5-year average. The leader in bean harvest is MN this last week with 91% completed. It is interesting that beans inch higher with talk of Chinese demand growing and exports improving from past weeks. Beans are getting support from vegetable oils globally. An interesting note is the November 2022 board is almost the same as November 2021. Make sure to be thinking of forward sales.

Wheat continues to be strong as planting and emergence is on pace for the 5-year average. With wheat over $6.50 per bushel on next July cash, are you putting some sales on?

ALCIVIA has plenty of options to help you be profitable. Don’t forgot to keep selling even when you are harvesting and busy with fieldwork. Please have a safe harvest!

Melisa

Posted on October 13, 2021

Yet another market moving WADSE report was released yesterday. The beans had the most drastic changes. Yield went up from 50.6 bushels per acre to 51.5 bushels per acre for the national average. This was a highly expected yield increase, especially as Wisconsinites are flying through harvest. Most farmers I am talking to have said their bean yields have been better than expected. The surprising section of the report was the ending stocks. The stocks went from 185 to 320 million bushels. After seeing the 135-million-bushel change, the market, which was already sliding, had a huge drop. From last Friday we have seen the bean price drop over 60 cents. Corn also had some changes, however not as extreme as the beans. Yield moved 0.20 bushel, putting the national average at 176.5, which slightly raised the ending stocks to 1.5 billion bushels. Corn has moved below the $5.00 mark in all of our ALCIVIA locations. On the positive side, wheat production and ending stocks are still lower than the previous September report. With where the wheat price is and most of the beans coming off earlier than normal, I foresee many Wisconsin farmers planting wheat this year. I have already seen wheat sown in places where I know there hasn’t been wheat in 10+ years! With that being said, it is also a great time to start looking at forward contract 2022 wheat.

Although the WADSE report was a bit of a disappointment, I just want to remind you of the exciting harvest we are having! The U.S. farmers are getting the crop off rapidly this year. Crop progress report released that the nation is 41% completed with harvest on corn, 10% ahead of the national average. Bean harvest is also ahead of the 5-year national average at 49% completed. Now if the rain and humidity would subside, we could finish the bean harvest.

As you try to navigate through all the reports this week, remember to focus on your farm and what brings profit to your operation. Is almost $5 corn still making money? Do $11.00 beans give you enough to buy fall fertilizer? Please reach out to your Grain Marketing Specialist if there is anything we can do to help ensure you are capitalizing on the opportunity the market is still providing.

Have a great day!

Kasey Baker

Posted on September 29, 2021

Harvest pace is starting to pick up with 18% of the crop being reported harvested this week compared to 10% last week, 14% last year this week, and 15% on a 5-year average. We’re sure the memory of last year’s post-harvest rally is fresh in producers’ minds and we can’t blame you. No one can predict what will happen in the markets in the coming months and we are reminded that marketing years like this past year historically happen 2 in 10 years.

Questions to consider about marketing grain during harvest this year: At what point in harvest will we see the pressure released from the supply side of the equation and reflect in a softening cash market? Will the better-than-expected yields in certain areas of the country be enough to cover the drought areas? How will the USDA analyze and report this year’s production? If $5 corn and $12 is not high enough for you to sell, what level is and what is your risk tolerance to wait for this level? Are you making money selling grain at current?

We are encouraging producers to think about these questions and reward the strong cash market with sales. Wishing you all a safe and bountiful harvest! Please contact your local grain sales specialist to review sales and harvest progress and to look over your marketing options.

Make sure to have lunch on us this harvest at your local ALCIVIA elevator! Here is our harvest lunch schedule. Pick up a boxed lunch for you and your crew! We look forward to seeing you!

Posted on September 16, 2021

The southern territory of the co-op has received its first new crop bushels. Harvest is starting to kick off in small pockets of the state. Basis values have moved more toward new crop values with few premiums left to sell as harvest is weeks or even days away. Understanding new crop basis and how the grain should flow is an important tactic this fall. The value of freight and time is what is important in these next months. Freight values in the Midwest continue to stay firm as there is a demand for grains and oilseeds to be moved in the last part of the old crop market and then transiting into a new crop harvest. The trucking market seems to carry on with driver and truck shortages. This may have an impact on fall harvest and how commodities need to flow. Basis, freight, and space are all influencers of each other and determine the market of where grain needs to go.

The volumes of exports for the coming year are lower than last year that this time. The market has built carry in both the soybean and corn markets. Those spreads are continuously moving each day as the market tries to make its mind up. River markets have bounced back a hair this week after the pressure of Hurricane IDA. River terminals in the Gulf have turned back on, but barge freight continues to stay firm as the gulf does not see many purchases from China. The PNW is showing consistent values as China’s cargo freight is spreading to the west coast better than the gulf. Natural gas continues to rally as supplies stay tight and there are projections for a cold winter outlook. The fertilizer and input market seems to be keeping firm with the influences of Hurricane Ida and barge freight. We are in a high price environment for all commodities. Be forward-thinking and look for opportunities in the future while they still present themselves. Volumes never have to be large, but ask yourself if you’d profit and be satisfied with that choice.

Stay safe and enjoy harvest!!

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