Page 32 October 27, 2015
2015 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.COM
saw plenty of corn at 16% moisture. The corn
didn’t mature naturally this year because of the
summer kill that came around the third week of
July. Topflight operations cut dryers off early
because the corn was coming in at or below the
normal 15% test moisture, and because of this
Topflight lost some of their regular seasonal
drying income.
Test weights on corn were largely satisfactory,
even though some of the early stuff was light.
When the moisture is low, then the weight of each
kernel is low. It takes more kernels then to make
up the 50-60 lb per bushel. Some of the soybeans
came in with smaller kernels. Reports showed
soybeans were coming in at 57 lbs per bushel
and corn at 11-12% moisture at 59 lbs per bushel.
Bramer said these were good average test weights.
Average overall moisture was 16%.
For Topflight this turned out to be a normal
operation year. They have corn on the ground in
three locations, but no emergency piles, indicating
that it was a normal harvest, not an exceptional
harvest.
On the quality of corn and beans, there were no
real quality issues or discounts. Overall there
were slightly better yields on corn than expected.
Bramer said “Our farmers are great at what they
do.”
Eastern states had significantly more rain than we
had here in central Illinois and suffered more crop
damage and loss. Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana
in some places had a very disappointing harvest.
Iowa had some disappointing areas as well. These
failures in other states helps increase basis (basis
is defined as the cash price minus the futures
price) when some areas suffer. There is currently
an effort to ship corn and beans to other areas of
the U.S. by rail to make up for the crop deficits in
those areas.
Prices aren’t very interesting. On beans upper
$8, while corn demand remains slow. Better
bean yields may push bean prices down. Recent
changes in Chinese economics have significantly
affected prices. European markets are depressed
and accepting less imports. Corn export sales
for the 19th of October are 32% behind last year
and soybeans are 24% behind sales compared to
last year. The global demand for beans remains
tremendous and lends support for continued good
prices.
Bramer said that what happens in South American
and other producer areas can significantly change
the market. Right now Brazil is at planting time
and they are very dry, helping hold global bean
and corn prices higher. If Brazil gets the rain
they need, it will likely put some downward price
pressure on markets.
The GMO issue remains a very serious discussion
with export partners about what they will accept.
Continued
