Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s been lots of talk about grain and oilseed growers who lost money on grain options. But it’s a different story this crop year. As a strategy, using put options to protect commodity returns close to their drought-year highs has paid off in spades. That’s because put options act as price insurance. These “puts” place […] Read more
Smarter option use for your market plan
Is it market information, or only market noise?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Clearly, times have changed. When it comes to market analysis, we’ve seen a complete transformation. My career began way back around 1980 with Alberta Wheat Pool and its internal publication called Market Update. This publication basically tried to figure out supply and demand tables while keeping tabs of the latest weather forecasts and factoring them […] Read more
Can the good times last?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Global financial markets are so volatile, we can’t help telling ourselves. Can we really expect grain markets to have long-term strength when the economic times are so turbulent? My question is slightly different. Can market analysis help us find a commodity market’s long-term direction, when there’s a long-term direction to find? Commodity markets produced many […] Read more
How to market in these turbulent times
Reading Time: 3 minutes During periods of unstable financial markets, commodities take on a different personality. Uncertainty breeds fear. Buyers fade out of the picture, and although farmers typically focus on the supply side of market fundamentals, the maket sees supply as only half the equation. If buyers reduce their buying, it doesn’t matter how tight supplies are on […] Read more
How to market in these turbulent times
Reading Time: 3 minutes During periods of unstable financial markets, commodities take on a different personality. Uncertainty breeds fear. Buyers fade out of the picture, and although farmers typically focus on the supply side of market fundamentals, the maket sees supply as only half the equation. If buyers reduce their buying, it doesn’t matter how tight supplies are on […] Read more
Make The Best Of Your Marketing Decisions
Reading Time: 4 minutes A decision is simply the act of making up your mind. As easy as it sounds, we all know it isn’t, and certainly nothing is more agonizing than trying to second-guess a volatile commodity market. Selling at the best price possible is often more luck than skill. To make the most of selling decisions, you […] Read more
Will Grain Storage Pay Off?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Grain storage is a fact of life for the farmer. Your grain needs a roof over its head as you await delivery and pricing opportunities through the crop year. But grain storage is more than that. At times, storing grain on the farm is a smart marketing strategy, and it can pay off handsomely. Even […] Read more
Get More From Volatile Markets
Reading Time: 4 minutes The sky is simply not the limit when it comes to any market. Grain and oilseed prices climbed briskly through October and into November, thanks to the combination of lower-than-expected corn and soybean yields plus U.S. monetary policy. But the cure for high prices is definitely high prices. Demand is rationed and then the sell-off […] Read more
Farm Finances Guide Your Marketing Plan
Reading Time: 3 minutes When you decide on an overall shape for your marketing plan, your financial position needs to say a lot about its direction. The farm business has to be viewed as a whole, and in an important way, whether you’re producing crops and livestock, managing your financial health, or selling at a profit, you’re doing the […] Read more
Marketing Weapons Needed In Low-Quality Grain Battlefield
Reading Time: 3 minutes Weather has certainly been the roundtable discussion this crop year. Too much rain, too little heat and a dose of frost have teamed up to make grain quality a thing of the past. But if producing the crop felt like the first battle, selling it may prove to be a second. When going into this […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
