Grain Marketing Education, News & Strategies

Tidbits Markets: November soybean futures lost nearly 30¢ and corn lost 9¢ Wednesday as some weather forecasts indicated rain relief for the Western Corn Belt with widespread rains into the early part of next week, with heaviest amounts seen for Iowa, Southern Minnesota and Northern Illinois. Those areas could see 1.25 inches to over 2 inches by Tuesday, based on a National Weather Service five-day outlook. Frankly, we cannot find a NWS five-day outlook with that prediction.

Tidbits Weather: Contrary to most private forecasts, the National Weather Service and 247AG predicted Saturday evening that extreme heat will return next weekend to the Central and Western Corn Belt with normal rainfall amounts. Ukraine: There are rumors that corn and wheat exporters in Ukraine will declare force majeure in Ukraine due to war damage to their grain handling equipment. “Force majeure” is a term used in contracts allowing either party to legally break th

Tidbits China evacuated more than 1.9 million people as Typhoon Bavi churned toward the major eastern city of Wenzhou. Farmers raced this past week to harvest crops. At the greatest risk were rice, corn, vegetables, and fruits. The category 1 typhoon made landfall with 90 mph (144 kmph) around 11:20 pm Saturday local time. Rice is the world’s number one competitor for wheat. In Asia, wheat and rice demand is determined by price for the average consumer. Reuters reports Ch

Tidbits May Crushings data released yesterday by the USDA: Total corn consumed for alcohol and other uses was 524 million bushels, up 9% from April and up 5% from May 2025, 92% of it was for alcohol and 8% for other purposes. Soybeans crushed for crude oil was 6.39 million tons (213 million bushels), down 2.3% from April but up 4.4% from a year ago. Canola seeds crushed for crude oil was 164,947 tons in May 2026, 18% less from April but up 56% from May 2025. Cottonseed once r

Tidbits The U.S. and Iran released the text of an interim agreement their presidents have signed to end their war on Wednesday, with the U.S. President threatening to resume attacks and kill Iranian officials if they failed to honour their ​commitments. Iran's leaders did not address the new threats. The memorandum of understanding stipulates that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen, with Iran agreeing to allow “safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days only,

Tidbits Iran: Reuters News Service reported yesterday afternoon: U.S. President Donald Trump and mediator Pakistan said on Saturday an initial deal to end the war in the Middle East would be signed on Sunday, although Iran denied the signing would take place so soon. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the two sides had agreed on a framework for a peace deal and that Islamabad was preparing for an electronic signing on Sunday, ‌to be followed by technical-level talks

Tidbits June S&D: At 11 AM Central Time today, the USDA will issue its June S&D. It most likely will have very little impact on the markets. It is too early for USDA to change yields or acres for corn and beans. Wheat production could be interesting, but wheat harvest is just getting a good start. The demand side could see an increase in corn exports, a decrease in soybean exports with an increase in soybean crush. Will USDA reduce or increase the size of Brazil’s safrinha co

Tidbits December corn closed below its key technical support level of $4.80¼ yesterday. We discussed this technical situation on Tuesday when we stated December corn was no longer in an uptrend but was in a sideways trading range until it either traded above $5.06½ or below $4.80¼. Yesterday’s settlement was $4.77½. December corn is now in a down trend using the technical analysis system of higher highs and higher lows versus lower highs and lower lows. Barchart.com’s 13 tech

Tidbits The CBOT grains will not trade again until Monday evening after the markets close today. The energy, equities, and interest rate futures will open normal times on Sunday. Energy futures will quit trading at 1:30 PM Monday and interest rate and equity futures will halt trading at noon Central Time Monday. China’s peak U.S. agriculture import year of $38 billion was 2022. They bought just $8 billion worth of agriculture products in 2025. Eduardo Vanin of AgrInvest Commo

Tidbits Given corn, wheat, and beans all opened 14 to 20+ higher last evening, last week's heavy selling was not justified. Brazil: From AgrInvest Commodities on Saturday: "In Brazil, corn remains pressured by comfortable physical supply and low liquidity, while fertilizers are experiencing greater downward pressure on nitrogen fertilizers. Soybean premiums (basis) showed firmness despite the sharp drop on the CBOT, in a market that remains cautious and stagnant." China:

Tidbits After Iran rejected the U.S. proposal to end the war, on Sunday, President Trump rejected Iran's counter response to the U.S. proposal. Crude oil opened $2.77 higher at $98.19 last evening and then traded as high as $98.85 in the first hour of trading and higher from there. Iranian state media said the response focused on ending the war on all fronts and on the safety of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz without indicating how or when the waterway might reopen

Tidbits Iran’s military said United States forces targeted an Iranian oil tanker in coastal waters and a second vessel near the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah port, while U.S. air strikes hit civilian areas in southern Iran. The U.S. military’s Central Command said its naval forces came under Iranian missile, drone and fast-boat attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump described the attacks on Iranian targets as a “love tap”, telling U.S. broadcast media that “

Tidbits Corn, beans, and wheat were smartly lower for the second consecutive day yesterday primarily because crude oil was sharply lower. June futures contract was down as much as $13.61 and finished down $7.19. Lower crude prices mean lower gasoline and diesel prices, reducing the value of biofuel blending stock. However, lower fuel prices are good for the economy. A strong economy will increase demand for fuel and everything else, like livestock that eat feed and all the co

Tidbits Fertilizer: Dakota Gas has switched from making diesel exhaust fluid to making granular 46% nitrogen urea at their Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, North Dakota. The plant’s capacity is 1,100 short tons per day. The USA burns enough DEF each year to meet all of Canada’s nitrogen fertilizer needs. Brazil: Eduardo Vanin of AgrInvest Commodities reported on Monday: “I’m in Goiás this week. Everywhere I’ve been, the corn looks small and stressed. I saw sunflower a

Tidbits StoneX’s fertilizer guy, Josh Linville, reports U.S. price change of various nitrogen fertilizers since 1 March: NOLA urea - 39% higher NOLA UAN - 55% higher Midwest NH3 - 28% higher NOLA DAP - 21% higher NOLA MAP - 15% higher NOLA Potash - 14% higher *NOLA = New Orleans, Louisiana Deliveries to be Assigned Today For Tuesday Delivery on May Futures: March Crush: The USDA reported on Friday that corn crushed for alcohol and other uses was 523 million bushels in March

Tidbits Iran: President Trump said yesterday Iran could telephone if it wants to negotiate an end to their two-month war, stressing that Tehran can never have a nuclear weapon, while Iran's foreign minister returned to ‌Pakistan for talks despite the absence of U.S. counterparts where he said Iran will never give-up its right to have nuclear weapons. Analysts say all of Iran’s oil storage will be full on Wednesday and they will have to shut down oil production. Global fe

Tidbits Mexico is building a land-bridge between its two oceans that is already partially working and nearing completed. It will not replace the Panama Canal, but it could carve out a meaningful niche in global trade, especially for North American supply chains. A major infrastructure project is designed to be a land-based alternative (often called a “dry canal”) to the Panama Canal. It is the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT), a multimodal rail-and

Tidbits Iran War: President Trump said Iran has agreed to suspend its nuclear program indefinitely. Bloomberg reported Iran will not receive any frozen funds from the U.S. Details include: Trump says that a deal to end the war between the US/Israel and Iran is now "mostly complete" Talks over a lasting agreement will "probably" be held this weekend and "most main points are finalized" Trump denied that the moratorium on Iran’s nuclear program would expire after 20 years Fe

Corn Market Summary Corn, wheat, and soybean futures usually trade to their highest price of the year between late April and late June. Every Wednesday we send you an email entitled Weekly Summary & Recommendations (link in the section below) in which we discuss the technical outlook, fundamental outlook, seasonal price trend, and profitability of the current price. Given the new information from the USDA with 2026 acres, the quarterly stocks information and the latest weat

Tidbits Iran: U.S. officials confirmed Friday morning that an American aircraft, probably an F-15E Strike Eagle, was shot down by Iranian forces. One of the two crewmen was recovered and the search continues for the second crew member. A second aircraft, an A-10 Warthog, was shot yesterday over the Persian Gulf, but the pilot was able to reach Kuwait to bail out and was recovered. A major highway bridge in Tehran was destroyed by U.S. military aircraft on Friday. Late y