Karl Setzer

Corn and soybean planting has reached a point where trade is not too concerned with future progress falling behind normal. The overall pace has slowed according to weekly numbers, but

A large amount of interest has remained on the livestock complex following the discovery of New World Screwworm discovery in Texas. The USDA continues to state the situation is under

As expected, only minimal changes were made to old crop balance sheets in the June WASDE report. Corn carryout was held at 2.14 billion bu, soybeans were left at 340 million bu, as was old crop wheat carryout at 935 mbu. Given the fact no changes are made to production in the June supply and demand report, these steady numbers were fully expected.

As expected, only minimal changes were made to old crop balance sheets in the June WASDE report. Corn carryout was held at 2.14 billion bushels, soybeans were left at 340

A topic that is starting to come up in several markets is that paper trade is not matching physical trade. What this means is that the value of the futures markets is not matching the value of cash commodities. Right now, this is most evident in the energy complex where crude oil futures have broken below $80 a barrel while the world crude oil supply is falling to historically low levels. In the ag sector, we are seeing this between futures and cash markets as interior basis remains historically strong and processing margins are near record high, yet futures have fallen to contract lows. This separation makes the monitoring of cash markets much more important than in recent history.

A topic that is starting to come up in several markets is that paper trade is not matching physical trade. What this means is that the value of the futures

The USDA has released two of the summer’s main commodity market reports; June acreage revisions to March planting intentions and the June 1 quarterly stocks.

The USDA has released two of the summer’s main commodity market reports – June acreage revisions to March planting intentions and the June 1st quarterly stocks. For acreage, the USDA is now expected to have planted 95.3 million acres of corn this year, 3 percent fewer than last year but slightly more than the March intentions suggested. This is still the 4th most U.S. corn acres planted since 1944. Harvested acres on corn are forecast at 87.4 million, a 4 percent decline from last fall.

Corn planting in the United States was completed in a short amount of time, and historically a fast corn planting season leads to more corn acres. High input costs and the early start to U.S. soybean planting prevented these additional plantings. What is more of a topic now is how many harvested acres we will see on corn. It is interesting to note the USDA pointed out corn harvested acres will be down 4 percent this year from last at 87.4 million. The Eastern Corn Belt may elevate this number in the future as more reports of acre abandonment are coming in.

Corn planting in the United States was completed in a short amount of time, and historically a fast corn planting season leads to more corn acres. High input costs and