Weekly Crop Commentary - 03/28/2025

Wes Bahan
Vice President, Grain Division

Good afternoon. Looks like a rainy and mild end of March coming for us. According to Dayton news stations we could see up to 2” of rain by the end of Monday. That should make the subsoil fully charged up heading into the growing season, if it doesn’t come all at once. The wheat growing region of the plains is still seeing some pretty decent drought conditions, but they did seem to get some rains. We did see some improvements for the Colorado and Texas wheat crops in the Monday report. The French wheat crop seems to be in good shape as 74% of it is in good to excellent conditions. Paired with the looming tariff uncertainty, this sent the wheat market reeling this week. This pushed corn to follow, even though we are starting to see planting in the southern US get somewhat behind. 

There was a bit of news out in the later part of the week on the whole bio fuels discussion in Washington that did send soy oil higher, pushing the soybeans along with it. Remember that we will see the Prospective Planting’s and Quarterly Grain Stocks reports on Monday. These typically tend to move the markets in one way or another.

Steve Bricher
Grain Operation Manager, Urbana (Region 3)

It is the end of March. If the weatherman is correct, it should at least be a warm weekend. I hope as I am planning to get some miles on my motorcycle this weekend. We are not in the window, if the fields dry out the farmers in my area will start getting the 2025 crop in the ground.

The markets have not had a good week. Everything going on in Washington is not helping matters today. We will get the USDA first look at what you are going to plant this spring come Monday. Every market forecaster will fire up their spreadsheet and tell us what they think prices are going to do based on the market advice they have been given. I believe it is a point to start but mother nature is going to play a big role in what you plant. If the weather cooperates over the next 45 days we could see more corn. If we happen to turn off wet there is no reason that the farmer wouldn't switch to soybeans. The numbers, from a profitability standpoint, do not mean we have to plant corn over soybeans in most areas of the Midwest.

We are offering our corn and soybean average price programs again this spring. These both worked out well for harvest bushels last year and history tells us that spring is the best time to get harvest bushels sold. Contact any of us if you have questions or want to put bushels in the program.

Lisa Warne
Grain Merchandiser, Marysville (Region 4)

End of March already and we’re looking forward to the Prospective Planting report from the USDA on Monday. The average trade estimate has corn acres pegged at 94.4 million and soybeans at 83.8 million. If we see much deviation from those figures, we could see a reaction from the market. Quarterly stocks are also being released on Monday, with trade expecting 8.15 billion corn bushels and 1.9 billion bean bushels. Look for this data to be released at noon.

Corn and soybeans have each had a 20-some-cent trading range this week. Cash soybeans have rallied back above the $10 mark and we’ve had quite a few customers letting go of bushels off delayed price and locking in some bushels for delivery over the next couple months. Unfortunately, corn has went the other direction and is looking to close out the week down about a dime. Wheat has had the roughest week, down over 30 cents and hitting new lows. As we head into spring, we’ll see condition reports starting soon and it is historically a friendly time for wheat price, so I’m still optimistic on a recovery.

Don’t forget, corn and soybean enrollment for our Average Price Contract Program is open until Wednesday, April 9th. Let one of us know if you’re interested! Have a great weekend.