Developing an opinion on crop prices and the direction they’re headed is not an exact science. Once you can move beyond expecting to be right all the time, it’s time to start putting some fundamental analysis to work for you. While many farmers are familiar with that term and supply and demand discussions, understanding how… Read More
Category: Hedging
Whether you do your own digging, subscribe to several news outlets or employ an analyst, making decisions about price direction requires a significant investment of time and effort. For many farmers, marketing and following the markets is an enjoyable part of their job. For others, it’s not how they’d like to spend their time or… Read More
The new marketing environment around wheat in Western Canada offers producers a much greater level of involvement than they’ve ever had when it comes to managing price risk. Should producers choose to step out of the contract environment provided by their local grain companies and buyers and go directly to the futures and options market… Read More
If you cannot see the above embedded audio player, CLICK HERE According to Chuck Penner, LeftField Commodity Research, everyone was waiting for the USDA planting intention report with baited breathe but what shocked (or maybe not) the market was the stocks report. Farmers holding onto old crop crop corn and wheat without unhedged are feeling… Read More
A near-record number of intended corn acres estimated today by the USDA’s planting intentions report has pressured corn markets limit-down for the day. Hear what Chuck Penner Thinks About the USDA Stocks Report Today The report pegs estimated acres at 97.3 million acres, a total eclipsed only by a mid-1930s planting. SEE MARKET PRICES HERE…. Read More
Farmers do an amazing job of keeping current on the latest agronomy findings, and many are keen to work on new and improved practices each year. But not everyone loves biology — some prefer the business side of farming and enjoy the time spent analyzing markets and setting up a hedging strategy. Each crop type… Read More
The transition from the closed to open wheat and barley market has gone very smoothly, of that most will agree. Sales have gone through, prices have been strong and the hiccups have been relatively minor. Earlier this week, several market analysts, grain buyers and farmers converged on downtown Winnipeg for Wild Oats Grainworld, a conference… Read More
Whenever someone mentions risk management in grain marketing, someone also mentions futures, options, puts, calls and, eventually, most people’s eyes glaze over. Anyone who has done a marketing course has also run through a hedging example or five in their education only to find that these tidy examples involving one crop rarely mirror real life…. Read More
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) today announced it will transition open outcry trading of Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) hard red winter (HRW) wheat futures and options to its Chicago trading floor beginning Monday, July 1, 2013, pending CFTC review. The company’s release says this transition will accelerate efficiencies and trading opportunities for customers trading both… Read More
According to Dow Jones Newswires, CME Group has agreed to buy the Kansas City Board of Trade for US$126 million. CME already owns the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). By purchasing Kansas City, CME would then offer wheat contracts for both soft and hard wheats, along with several other agriculture commodity contracts. While it’s not… Read More
Am I the only one left scratching my head over the newly minted CWB offering canola pools? Voluntary pooling is all good, if that’s what you’re in to, but I thought a very recent survey asking farmers if they’d be interested in a canola pool went over like a lead balloon. Apparently not, according to… Read More
Corn drives the agriculture commodity complex which provides great coffee shop and water cooler fodder. Demand for corn has been strong and supplies have been tight which has made the market strong. One of the scenarios livestock producers were hoping for was for the 2011 crop to produce strong yields and a cushion in the… Read More
This week the USDA report really smacked the commodity market into a downward spiral on Wednesday. Most people said that the negative reaction was an over reaction but still it does wake some farmers up to the potential downward snap that this market can take. As Jon Driedger, FarmLiunk Marketing discusses below, this is great… Read More
Is it just me or does it seem like if some guy tips over a gerry can, the price of fuel goes up? Don’t get me wrong, the situation in the Middle East is serious stuff and should concern us, but on a different level. Will it warrant a two dollar a litre price? Granted,… Read More
In the last few years, lentil acres in Canada were on the rise. Farmers across the country planted just over 2.5 million acres of the crop last year. That being said, the expectation this year is that lentil acres will be down about 25% according to some analysts. Apparently, as good as the price for… Read More