July 3, 2009
Have a Happy 4th of July
Celebrate wisely and always “THINK SAFETY FIRST”
Grain
A huge surprise in Tuesday’s USDA acreage report pushed an already struggling corn market sharply lower. Their planted corn acreage of 87.035 million acres was 2 million above the March 31st estimate when most traders felt we would be down close to 1 million acres because of the wet cold spring. The bean acres also increased from the March estimate by 1.4 million acres even though most had expected close to a 2 million acres increase. Add in one million more wheat acres and USDA essentially “found” 4.5 million crop acres since March. A trend line corn yield will essentially guarantee adequate corn supply through 2010. More pressure was applied to the corn market by a larger than expected grain stocks number, possibly signaling slower feed usage as well as 2% increase in the good to excellent rating for this year’ corn condition. Soybeans continued to be supported by tight old crop soybean supplies. Most expect our 2009 carryout to fall below 100 million when the USDA issues its Supply Demand Report on July 10th. This years’ soybean crop condition also showed some improvement from last week. In the next few weeks look for weather forecasts to influence corn price movement while the tight cash soybean supply will support soybean market.
Agronomy News
Reports from area fields are yielding some pretty evident conditions. Fields treated with a pre-emerge herbicide are in better shape that those that weren’t. We still have good “weed killing” opportunities but bushels will likely be lost in fields that were not treated with a pre-emerge herbicide. Today’s glyphosate rates would be much lower on fields that had early treatment done compared to untreated fields that fell victim to weather conditions and the inability to treat in a more timely manner. Tall weeds require higher rates of glyphosate to control and control cost plus yields lost by weed competition mean financial loss for farmers. Although weed management is a risk when weather conditions are a concern we still feel early season preplant herbicide application is the most profitable option. Considering early residual herbicide treatment for your 2010 crop would be a wise financial choice.
Scout soybean fields now for potential insect problems. Timely insecticide applications are critical to successfully manage these insects and minimize the likelihood of economic damage occurring
Your Western Iowa Coop Agronomists are available daily to help you manage all your weed and insect concerns. Call or stop by today and let us help.
Heads up from Dave – Western Iowa Coop 2009 Agronomy Intern from the Mapleton location
Potato leaf hoppers and aphids are starting to appear in bean fields. Keep a close eye on their numbers and don’t wait too long to get them sprayed. Also, start checking alfalfa fields for potato leaf hoppers as well.
Petroleum
Volatility continues in the energy markets even though we remain in a relatively wide trading range. Crude oil supplies continue to shrink slightly but remain well above average. However the smaller crude inventory is offset by increasing inventories in gasoline and especially distillates as demand continues to be slower than normal. The slower gasoline demand seems to indicate that people are driving less even though gasoline prices are $1.50 below year ago levels. The slower diesel demand continues to signal a slow economy as both truck and rail freight remains a lot lower than pre recession levels. Seasonally we are both gasoline and diesel prices weaker July through August, barring any geopolitical or hurricane threats.
Our winter booking program has begun for propane users and the good news is that LP prices are down close to 60% from last years levels.
