Blog Archives
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Soy Basis Surges on Demand Strength
By Cody Bills - Wednesday December 19, 2012
U.S. average soybean basis levels were up 4 cents a bushel for the week, bolstered by a strong crush and export sector. The soybean basis strength was greatest around the river system especially southern reaches of the Mississippi river and the Ohio river. River markets on average gained 7 cents a bushel on basis for the week, helped by a 5-cent gain at the Gulf where exports are robust. This week’s export sales report showed a marketing year high of 1.3 MMT of business for soybeans, with 1.0 MMT going to China. Also buoying the bean market is strong domestic crush. NOPA’s monthly crush estimate of 157.3 mb for November is the biggest November crush since 2009 and the biggest monthly figure overall since January 2010. Domestic crush... -
Cloud Accounting with Freshbooks
By Mark Frank - Thursday December 6, 2012
You provide your service or product to your farm clients and you are ready for the fun part which is getting paid, right? Not so quick, you still have to prepare an invoice for your transactions, send it to clients and then hope you get paid in a timely manner. The work involved in invoicing and waiting to be paid takes the fun out of getting paid. When it comes to handling billing, the range of solutions can be anywhere from using a sophisticated accounting system to something as basic as an invoice template in a word processor. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. In addition to the high cost of implementing a high end accounting system, the learning curve involved in mastering the system and the accounting... -
Barge Restrictions Loom Over Basis Market
By Cody Bills - Tuesday December 4, 2012
Water levels continued to fall on the Mississippi River leading to concerns that low water levels may shut down or limit barge traffic south of St Louis. The Mississippi River at St. Louis is typically shut down to barge traffic when the water drops below -5 feet, and with NOAA forecasting a -4.5 reading by December 14 th , it remains a very real threat of significant disruptions in U.S. grain shipments. In the past month, basis levels have responded aggressively to potential disruptions. South of Saint Louis at Memphis, basis levels have shot higher by 80 cents a bushel while in Saint Louis, basis levels have dropped by 30 cents a bushel in the last month. For the corn market, U.S. average basis levels managed to post a modest one-cent... -
River Woes Push Basis Lower
By Cody Bills - Wednesday November 28, 2012
Basis came under pressure along much of the Midwest river system this week as terminals north of St. Louis slowed grain buying amid looming draft restrictions on the river due to low water levels. Basis levels for soybeans were off 4 cents on average along major river terminals this week, while corn river markets slipped half a cent for the week. However, corn basis was higher in the upper Midwest and Northern Plains as ethanol plants pushed basis levels higher by 1.5 cents a bushel on average for the week. Further to the South, river terminals from Memphis running to the Gulf were higher thanks to a 5-cent increase in basis at the Gulf export market this week. For soybeans, basis levels around the country average a 0.3 cent... -
Biological Manufacturing?
By Arlette Sambs - Tuesday November 20, 2012
Last June at the IDEAg Interconnectivity Conference, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Michael Boehlje , a well-known and well-respected ag economist from Purdue University. Dr. Boehlje, while well aware of today’s production agriculture, also looks into the future, focusing his work on strategic planning and thinking, particularly given the dynamic (turbulent?) business climate we all live and work in today. This month, I attended the Equipment Manufacturers Conference (EMC) in San Diego, CA, pulled together by the American Feed Industry Association . This group (which includes many of my customers — those who advertise to support Feed & Grain ’s media properties) represents the interests of equipment manufacturers who are... -
Spike in Gulf Lifts Cash Basis
By Cody Bills - Monday November 19, 2012
In the last week we observed a firm increase in national corn and soybeans basis in the cash market. On average across the nation we watched spot corn basis rise 2 cents, while beans added nearly 3 cents. The river accounted for large basis increases this week with corn increasing on average 10 ½ cents and soybeans adding another 8 ¾ cents. The gulf bid moved sharply higher this week driven by demand for corn and soybeans delivered before any restrictions can be placed on barges. The continued dryness in the Midwest is still impacting the Mississippi river and if rain is not received within the next few weeks, there is a good chance we may see restrictions placed on the tow size and drafts of barges between St. Louis and Cairo, IL... -
Save Time and Improve Value?
By Arlette Sambs - Tuesday November 13, 2012
I’ll say it right up front: If we lose your attention — we’re toast. No, I don’t think that’s likely, particularly since Feed & Grain has spent more than 50 years working to keep your attention, but if we don’t worry about losing you, then we’re not doing our job. And our job is to deliver information you need, want and value. That’s how we earn your attention. In today’s digital world, earning your attention becomes more and more complex — in a good way. Digital technology gives us the opportunity to help you save time and help us provide more value. We can target to you the information you need, delivered consistently or readily accessible. Less clutter and more value. There are some technologies that... -
Soy Basis Heats Up on Export Driven Demand
By Cody Bills - Monday November 12, 2012
Soybean basis was up 3 cents for the week as strong export business continues to lift interior basis levels. Robust business to China and others has helped fuel cash movement to Gulf ports. Year-to-date export shipments for soybeans are 57% higher than this time last year, and up 44% compared to the 5-year average pace of shipments at this time of year. At the Gulf, soybean basis bids were up 4 cents for the week, but many river markets got an added lift as barge rates backed off from their recent rally. For the week, river terminals across the U.S. posted an average 10-cent gain in basis levels. There were, however, areas of weakness in the East Coast as harvest continues in the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic. Also, Iowa had key soybean... -
Square Up For Easy, In-the-field Payments
By Mark Frank - Thursday November 8, 2012
My son is in Cub Scouts and loves to take part in the annual popcorn sales fund raising program. He has always done well but I felt could have done better if we had a way to accept credit cards, so this year we down loaded the Square Credit Card App on my iPhone and improved his sales by 20% which is roughly the amount of revenue we brought in by credit cards. Square is an amazing service that works with your mobile phone, you simply down load the free app onto your phone, signup, and plug in the free card reader. There is a 2.75% fee when you do a transaction, so for every $100 you bring in there is a $2.75 fee. This is very low fee compared to most traditional credit card processing companies. For companies that have large... -
Barge Rates Decline, Spurring Basis at River Terminals
By Cody Bills - Friday November 2, 2012
Finally, after two weeks of barge rate increases, we observed a sharp decline across the river system. The St. Louis rate declined 19% last week giving soybean basis along the river space to improve 11 ¼ cents between Oct. 25 th and Oct. 31 st . Movement of soybeans through Mississippi river Lock 27 tapered off sharply, declining from a whopping 414 thousand tons (64% above the three year average) to only 147 thousand tons by Oct. 27 th . However, despite the minor lull in Soybean movement down the river, the Gulf bid should continue pulling soybeans at an above average pace. In the last week the soybean bid out of the Gulf increased 7 cents. Soybean Basis throughout the Eastern US continued to see harvest pressure. For the states...
