Grains pushed through the first full week of September with a mix of bearish and bullish headlines, but mostly of the latter as a weaker U.S. Dollar, wet weather, and decent export numbers being supportive. Corn was the shining star for the week, up 3.5% in Chicago, mainly supported by ethanol being up more than… Read More

They’re not splashing in the green pool or swinging from the parallel bars in Rio, but like their athletic compatriots, American farmers are breaking records. That’s if you believe the latest numbers from the US Department of Agriculture. The USDA issued its monthly supply/demand report on Friday. Here are some of the upsets/highlights: A 7.1 bushels/acre… Read More

The US Department of Agriculture confirmed another discovery of rogue genetically engineered wheat plants on Friday. A total of 22 volunteer GE plants were found by a farmer in an unplanted field in Washington State. The department says the plants contain the protein found in MON 71700, the glyphosate-resistant GE wheat developed by Monsanto. The… Read More

Grain markets rode the roller coaster this week as a myriad of factors played into movements across the complex. Currencies, oil prices, weather forecasts, and money flow played a part in helping the market maintain or increase elevated levels. The oilseed market had a strong finish into the close of trading for the week, as oilseeds… Read More

The grain markets ended the month of March with fanfare on the backs of the U.S.D.A.’s March 31st stocks and acreage report and China switching up some policy. Beijing decided to scrap its minimum support prices for corn, pushing domestic corn prices immediately down to 5-year lows as the domestic price needs to gap down… Read More

Grain traders are questioning whether the USDA played an early April Fool’s Day joke with its corn acreage projection in the department’s March 31st acreage estimates. The Prospective Plantings Report included a projection of 93.6 million acres of corn in 2016, well beyond the trade’s average expectation of just under 90 million. The soybean acreage… Read More

Evidence is adding up to show Western Canada really did grow a big canola crop last year, despite the drought. A combination of ample supplies, expanded crush capacity and the lower Canadian dollar are driving a rapid pace in canola consumption this year, both domestically and through exports. Canadian canola crush is up 12 percent from last… Read More

Grains started the month of March fairly hot, trying to rebound from its end of February, with more liquidity being added to the market and more bulls coming to the table on weather concerns. Nonetheless, given the size of the short position that managed money is holding on the futures board, there are some fundamentals… Read More

A U.S. government agency has identified what it believes is the most likely way the devastating PED virus entered the country and infected millions of pigs. The findings are both surprising and a reminder that biosecurity plans must be thorough. The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service considered 17 plausible scenarios that could explain how PED and similar… Read More

The USDA took grain markets by surprise with the numbers in its August supply/demand report on Wednesday morning. Corn, soybeans and canola futures dropped sharply following the much larger than expected production and ending stock estimates. Soybean ending stocks for 2015-16 were pegged at 470 million bushels — up from the USDA’s estimate of 425 million, and significantly higher than… Read More