On the corn market, with funds short and the weekend filled with heat, humidity, and rains in some parts, there are some farmers that believe this market is close to making a bottom. Camri Nelson of Spectrum News, Cincinnati reported that lack of rain will cause declines in corn this year. Interviewing Kate Burwinkle, with Burwinkle Farms, she noted every rear Burwinkle Farms, a small retail and produce farm in Ross Township grows close to 100 acres of corn, but this year wasn’t the case due to cold weather. “ In May we had a real hard freeze and that was detrimental to our crops at the beginning of the season,” she said. Close to 25 acres of corn were affected, and they had a loss of about 8 acres.
“Our biggest weekend is usually at the end of July and we didn’t have enough corn to sell to our markets,” she said, “so we were running out of corn at the local stand and trying to keep that up and picking a little each day. According to the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, the Burwinkles are not the only farmers who are dealing with this corn issue. “We're seeing more and more of the corn crop across Ohio get from excellent and good category down to the poor and very poor categories, so starting to see that corn slip as far, as it’s coming along,” said Ty Higgins, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation media relations.
And lack of rain is changing the way corn looks. “You won't see the corn getting as tall, you won't see the ears getting as full and that equates to a small number of bushels when it comes to harvest time,” Higgins said. This could lead to an interesting Crop Progress number later. December corn is currently trading at 336 which is 1 cent higher. The trading range has been 336 ½ to 332 ½.
There was rollover activity in ethanol on Friday, with the shift to the September contract as the benchmark month. While the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) is taking applications for a new grant program designed to encourage the installation of ethanol blender pumps across Nebraska. Expanding motorists’ access to higher blends of ethanol will increase usage of advanced biofuels and offer benefits to the state’s environment. Funding for the grants was made possible through a three-year $3 million award from the Nebraska Environment Trust. The grants made available to retail gas stations on a 50/50 cost share match for the acquisition of advanced biofuel blender pumps, fuel storage tanks, necessary infrastructure marketing and education. The pumps will provide various blends ranging from E-10 to E-85 to motorists. The numbers were supplied by Dave Strang, Nebraska Rural Radio Association. September ethanol posted a trade at 1.085 which is .065 lower. The market is currently showing 3 bids @ 1.030 and 1 offer @ 1.160 with 1 contract traded and Open Interest at 63 contracts.
Crude oil has mostly traded lower. But we are starting to see production disruption fears creep back into the market as we should get a better assessment of the damage Hurricane Hanna caused. We also have another disturbance in the Atlantic that is 1,000 miles east of the Windward Islands, which has an 80% chance to reach cyclone formation in 48 hours. Refinery Row will also be watching other storms percolating off the coast of Africa. September Crude Oil is currently trading at $41.66, 37 cents higher. The trading range has been $40.91-41.73.
The natural gas market is most likely looking at moderating temperatures in parts of the lower 48, which may ease demand. August Natural Gas is currently trading at 1.773 which is 3 ½ cents lower. The trading range has been 1.797 to 1.758.