Crop Catastrophe Coming?

Another scary headline. Wake up, America!

"The food that each one of us eats every day is produced by our farmers, and right now our farmers are truly facing a nightmare scenario." -- Michael Snyder

USDA Crop Report Looks Bearish for Corn

The USDA report this morning indicates that the corn crop for this year will be better than previously thought, yielding the second largest crop on record. That's great considering the destruction due to last spring's flooding! This suggests possibly a bearish impact when markets reopen this morning. Soybean prices, on the other hand, may be a different matter. The soybean crop appears less than expected, suggesting support for prices. Also, a smaller crop from Brazil may also be supportive. The late season for the plants' maturing may still put them at risk later in the season, if fall frosts damage the delayed grain crops. Typically, the August and September crop reports are the most favorable for crops, and the most bearish of the year for prices. When fall weather sets in, yields typically slog downhill from there.

USDA Crop Report Coming Up 3/31

The USDA acreage report will be issued next Monday, March 31st. This will set the tone for trading next week, since it will give traders a very good idea of what to expect from the growing season this year. I expect trading to be extremely volatile that day, with a strong likelihood of lock limit prices being reached. It also tends to mark the point at which weather will play a large role in trading throughout the growing season. I'm looking forward to this with eager anticipation!

Corn lock limit up!

On the bullish crop report this morning, corn was lock limit up on market open. The white dotted line is yesterday's close, and the white solid line is the lock limit price hit as soon as the market opened.

Crop Report tomorrow

Heavy trading is almost a guarantee tomorrow, with the release of the crop report at 8:30 am EST. I smell money!