Corn and Soybean Digest

Larry Stalcup

Larry

Stalcup

Articles by Larry Stalcup

Lock In Soybeans | $12 or $13 Soybean Prices are Tempting

Are the fundamentals surrounding soybeans causing prices to surpass expectations? At least one Corn Belt grain marketing specialist thinks so. And it could be a signal for you to sell more beans this spring. Price volatility can take the life out of a market in a flash.

Marketing 101: HTA is Not a Four-Letter Word

HTAs can be a marketing tool that offers the benefits of hedging without threat of a margin call. But many think first of the hedge-to-arrive fiascoes in the mid-1990s. They are among a range of forward contracts offered by grain elevators, ethanol plants and other grain buyers, says Melvin Brees, University of Missouri Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) economist.

Bring Out the Best in Continuous Corn | The Yield is in the Details

Expect to spend more time babysitting the crop, say agronomists and seasoned continuous corn farmers. Devote extra time to in-season N, disease and insect management advises John Kretzmeier, Fowler, IN. He was all continuous corn until the last two years, when drainage on his flat land became too problematic for all but about 20% of his ground.

Slow Nitrate Flow | Small Check Dams Cut Nitrate Loss in Half

By installing small check dams within drainage ditches beside fields, research shows that growers can stop close to 30-50% of the nitrate nitrogen (N) from flowing downstream, according to Mississippi State University (MSU) studies.

Marketing 101: Keep Your Options Open

You want to insure against a wreck in grain prices. But you may not want to be locked into straight futures or cash forward contracts, or pay the high price of a put-option premium. An options spread, or “fence,” may be the answer.

Take Profits Early | Corn Marketing is Still a Volatile Venture in 2012

John Story had about 25% of his expected 2012 corn production marketed by March 2011, two months before the government’s intentional explosion of a Mississippi River levee that flooded his fields in southeastern Missouri. Despite the worst disaster in his region’s history, the deep water didn’t drown his spirits as he geared up for even stronger grain sales this year.

Call Options 101 | Help Capture Rallies on Grain Already Contracted

Like corn and soybean futures and put options, calls are offered through the CBOT. You have to search a little more to find options prices, but they’re there. Put and call option prices premiums are listed, based on various futures quotes. According to CME, buying a call option “gives you the right, but not the obligation, to buy a product on the underlying futures contract at a specific price. The underlying futures contract is the one with the same delivery month as the option.”

The Other Corn Association | ACGA Favors Policy that “Encourages Fair Market Prices, Renewable Energy, Conservation”

Keith Dittrich was 17 when he was a farmer activist in the making. Over 30 years later, he chairs the American Corn Growers Association (ACGA), or as it’s safe to say, “the other corn growers’ association.” Dittrich, who farms in Tilden, NE, says the nearly 25-year-old ACGA is still entrenched with its philosophy of getting farm policy handled at the grassroots level.

Price Insurance And More | How Do You Know When the Cost of Puts is Worthwhile?

Here’s the situation: You’re bullish corn and soybeans and storing most of your 2011 crops to wait for a rally into early spring. But with huge price volatility, you consider using put options to protect against an unexpected drop in prices. But do you want to spend the money?

Can You Tame Superweeds? | Farmers Should Rewrite Weed-Control Programs Due To Herbicide Resistance

You know the villains – waterhemp, marestail, pigweed and other pilferers of water and soil nutrients. They’re the plants you spend $50/acre to kill, yet zestfully return, especially if these prolific weed-seed producers like waterhemp are allowed to spread 300,000 herbicide-resistant seeds per plant at harvest.

Keep Your Head Above Water with Gap Insurance | Gap Crop Insurance Covers What Multi-Peril Won’t

Josh Norris was like many eastern Corn Belt growers who waded through too much rain at planting time in 2011. Delayed planting probably cost him 15-20 bu./acre in corn yield. But thanks to insurance checks for about $90/acre that paid for anticipated corn and soybean losses through a unique new private weather insurance program, trips to the mailbox were happy events. And he has booked all of his corn, beans and wheat in the program for 2012.

Pigweed Will Strangle Yields | Early Weed Control a Must for Corn, Soybeans

Dallas Peterson’s weed-research plots rival the rankest weed-ravaged fields anywhere. And head-high pigweed offers examples of what can happen to corn and soybeans fields if the yield-punishing plants aren’t controlled early.

Take Soil Fertility Further | Mind Your Ps and Ns

Taking advantage of new and powerful corn hybrids requires getting the most out of yield-building nitrogen (N). And efficient phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and other soil-nutrient use keeps input costs in line.

World Market Access Is Vital

For decades American growers have depended heavily on wheat exports. The U.S. is the world’s largest wheat exporter and U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) works to maintain wheat sales to some 100 countries. Exports are why the recent free trade agreements (FTAs) were welcomed with open arms.

Margin Accounts Help Manage Risk