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Still leery of using futures after such debacles as MF Global and Peregrine Financial? Are you unsure of how futures contracts truly function? A mini-corn or mini-soybean contract can provide some real-life futures trading lessons without manufacturing a major margin call....More

Keith and Brian Berns rarely get a day off in their corn, soybean and rye/triticale rotation. Their separate entity, a cover-crop seed operation, makes sure of it. But the diversified enterprises provide more overall profit potential in volatile marketing environments. The Berns brothers no-till about 2,500 acres outside Bladen, Neb.; about 30% of those are irrigated. Some of both irrigated and dryland acres are used for cover-crop seed production, marketed through Green Cover Seed. The brothers’ company, formed in 2009, markets several lines of legumes, broadleaves, grasses and radishes, turnips and other exotic Brassicas....More

Where are you in your marketing plan? Did you sell out in August at the market highs? Do you still have your entire old crop either in the bin or the elevator? Did you sell your corn to shift the aflatoxin problem to someone else? Did you sell your beans because you only store corn? If you still have grain to sell and don’t like the drop in the futures price, what is there to do but continue to pay storage? Well, there is something, and you might want to strike while the iron is hot....More

“Know them and respect them. But don't let seasonal trends be your only pricing guide.” That’s Ed Usset’s advice about historic corn and soybean price trends. Except for Corn Belt drought years like 1988, 1995 and 2012, you’re more likely to see higher prices for corn and beans in March through June than from July on, says the University of Minnesota Extension grain marketing specialist. Today’s price volatility, however, creates massive spikes in prices that can provide great marketing opportunities virtually year-round....More

March 2013 corn futures dropped below $5.50 in early May 2012 and were drifting lower when U.S. drought conditions turned prices higher starting in mid-June. The price of that contract peaked in early August, just short of the $8.50 mark. March 2013 soybean futures dropped below $11.50 in December 2011 before South American drought conditions and then U.S. drought conditions sent that contract above $17.25 by mid-September 2012....More

Volatility in agri commodity prices looks set to continue into 2013, according to a report from Rabobank’s Agri Commodity Markets Research department.  This will be particularly true for grain and oilseeds markets, with a supply squeeze in the first six months expected to push prices higher, before an expected production rebound leads to a weakening in prices in the second half of the year....More

The sharp increase in soybean prices that began in June and peaked in early September was carried more by soybean meal prices than by soybean oil prices, according to University of Illinois Agricultural Economist Darrel Good. From the June low to the September peak, January 2013 soybean futures increased by 43%, January soybean meal futures increased by 51% and January soybean oil futures gained 20%....More