Weekly Crop Commentary - 10/18/2024

Briana Holtzman
Grain Merchandiser, Upper Sandusky (Region 2)

Farmers are beginning to wrap up bean harvest fairly quickly here. We are starting to see an increase in corn, and thankfully are still not seeing any VOM. I don’t think that we will see any as harvest progresses. We are getting corn in that has been ranging from 15-18% moisture, not too shabby. I am definitely hearing talk of some people taking a break while they can in between bean and corn harvests. Most corn fields could wait a few days as corn is still standing well out in the fields. Try not to get too burnt out, that’s when accidents can happen. Stay safe out there!

The trend this week was low and in the red. We saw corn and beans have some short term rallies back into the green near the end of the week, but they couldn’t hold. The ample supply domestically and globally, seasonal harvest pressure, and rains in Brazil led to a bearish market sentiment and prices not faring well. With bean futures under $10.00 this week, we’ve seen a lack of bushels sold across the scale and an uptick in utilizing DP on unpriced bushels.

Steve Bricher
Grain Operations Manager, Urbana (Region 3)

Harvest is moving along well so far. We are on the back half of soybean harvest and a lot of corn has been shelled. In my area, the corn has been coming out of the fields very dry. We have only had to run our dryer for a few days at this point. Yields are just so-so. The lack of rain in August and September really hurt the soybeans, especially the later maturing varieties. Corn has seemed to fare better but is still well off from last year’s record numbers.

The markets have set back from their recent highs. We are seeing harvest-selling pressure come to the markets and not a lot of bullish news to push them higher. South America is getting started planting and rain is in the forecast for them. The size of the crop down there will play a major role in determining our prices over the next 9 months.

Lisa Warne
Grain Merchandiser, Marysville (Region 4)

Good afternoon! It was a slow start to the week with a cloudy, misty Monday and about 0.3” of rain for the area on Tuesday. Customers are now back into what’s left of the soybeans and making good progress on corn. We’re actually starting to hear “I’m done” at the scales, which feels way too early. Folks getting wrapped up this early in the season not only means we’ve had dry weather for harvest, but unfortunately an indication of less loads, less bushels. It’s hard to estimate average yields this year when you hear anything from soybeans doing 35-70 and corn 110-225. It will be interesting to see what the USDA surveys say after it’s all said and done.

The market has had a rough couple of weeks since its most recent highs at the beginning of the month. At the end of September, dryness in South America helped rally the soybeans, but since then they’ve received ample rain with more in the forecast. As I write, the lack of bullish headlines has soybeans testing the lows again. Corn seems to have found support at 4.00 Dec futures yesterday and is holding above so far today. For wheat, last week, we filled some $6 target offers for delivery next July before the market fell off again. If you’ve planted wheat this fall, please consider placing some target offers to catch possible rallies to protect your risk. Have a great weekend and please continue to be safe.