Marketing Advice from Darrel Good

Now that USDA has released its first official look at the balance sheet for new crop corn and soybeans, farmers are under the gun to make some marketing decisions. The easy ones are related to what’s left to sell from last year.

This week USDA estimated the average cash price farmers will receive for the coming corn crop will be fifteen cents less than last year at $3.50 a bushel. It makes the decision to sell what’s left from last year’s crop pretty easy thinks University of Illinois Ag Economist Darrel Good.

Quote Summary - I think you just give it up, meter it out, and let it go.

Pretty much the same advice goes for old crop soybean sales.

Quote Summary - There is no opportunity at this juncture, beyond a summer weather problem, for prices to recover.

Sell old crop corn and soybeans at your discretion, but probably sooner rather than later. However, Darrel Good is much more cautious as it relates to new crop sales.

Quote Summary - Prices are low enough, certainly below the crop insurance price, and I’d bide my time on new crop corn.

He’d do pretty much the same for soybeans.

Quote Summary - Probably in the same category. You are seeing prices right down at the $9.00 level for harvest delivery, about what USDA expects for the year ahead. There is probably no urgency to get aggressive at these levels.

Again, that’s sell the old crop and stand to the sidelines on the new crop. You may read Darrel Good’s thoughts on the commodity markets each Monday afternoon on the Farm Doc Daily website.

USDA WASE May 2015 Numbers

University of Illinois Ag Economist John Newton discusses the May 2015 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report numbers for new and old crop corn and soybeans.

First Day First Field

USDA describes Pat Whalen as a new and beginning farmer. I think he's just having fun planting his first farm field ever.

More Red Meat Available Per Person this Year

The supply of meat in the United States is on the upswing this year. It had fallen off by about twenty pounds per person between 2007 and 2014, but now it’s making a come back says Purdue Extension Agricultural Economist Chris Hurt.

Quote Summary - USDA estimates are that per capita meat availability could surge by nearly nine pounds this year. Chicken and turkey lead the way with over five pounds of increase and pork adds an impressive increase of near four pounds per person. This means that the meat industry in one year has restored about 45 percent of the lost meat availability from 2007 to 2014.

This calculation does not include any reduced availability due to the Avian Influenza outbreak. It is likely to reduce total poultry (chicken and turkey) meat production in 2015.