Crop Conditions

Rain beginning the first weekend of August has been a major blessing to revive many fields and help others to continue flourishing. Many fields and neighborhoods have missed too much rain for too long and August rainfall is sort of a “salvage” operation, especially for corn. Beans have good potential yet. How many fields will make new records for themselves? Probably some but not that many in this region of our territory.

Corn price has trended lower, as is normal for late summer. Beans have held closer to steady over the past several weeks. USDA’s WASDE report for August raised the outlook for next year’s average corn price to 10 cents to $4.90 and soybeans up 30 cents to $12.70. Both these are higher than the October bid, so USDA is projecting confidence that the market is probably not looking to trade too much lower over the next year. These estimates are altered monthly, of course.

Fertilizer prices have become very attractive this summer for fall application. If you have priced, it is worth a good strong look.