Grain Futures: As of 4 p.m. on Oct. 23, corn, soybean, and wheat prices were all higher compared to the week before.
Corn for December 2014 was $3.5975/bushel, up from $3.5225/bushel the previous week. The March 2015 price for corn rose to $3.735/bushel from the prior week’s $3.6525/bushel, while trading of December 2015 corn contracts bumped to $4.0525/bushel from $3.97/bushel at last report.
The November 2014 soybean price was $9.9325/bushel, up from $9.665/bushel the week before. Soybeans for January 2015 were quoted at $10.00/bushel, also up from the prior week’s $9.7425/bushel, while soybeans for November 2015 firmed to $9.8975/bushel from the previous week’s $9.7975/bushel.
Wheat for December 2014 was $5.2675/bushel, up from the prior week’s $5.17/bushel, while wheat for March 2015 firmed to $5.4025/bushel from $5.2875/bushel at last report. July 2015 wheat contracts traded at $5.5525/bushel, also up from $5.4275/bushel the week before.
Eastern Cornbelt: Parts of the Eastern Cornbelt remained sidelined by wet weather that carried over from the previous weekend, but drier conditions were on the horizon. “Things are slow and wet,” said one Ohio contact at midweek, “but we’re hoping to get harvest in full swing in the next few days with a drying trend showing on the radar.”
The corn harvest as of Oct. 19 remained a full 20-30 percentage points behind the average pace in Indiana and Illinois, with progress rated at 31 percent complete in Indiana and 43 percent in Illinois. Ohio’s corn crop was just 23 percent harvested by that date, but USDA continued to show very favorable corn conditions in the region, with fully 83 percent of the acreage in Illinois and 77 percent in Indiana and Ohio rated as good or excellent.
The Eastern Cornbelt soybean harvest as of Oct. 19 had also slipped 20-30 percentage points behind the average pace, with just 31-37 percent of the crop harvested region wide. Despite those delays, USDA continued to place 74-79 percent of the regional soybean crop in the good or excellent categories last week.
Western Cornbelt: Beautiful fall weather allowed harvest to progress rapidly across much of the Western Cornbelt last week, but the pace was still significantly trailing the five-year average for all three states in the region.
Iowa growers had just 19 percent of the corn in the bin by Oct. 19, a full 34 percentage points behind the five-year average for the state, while harvest progress in Nebraska and Missouri was rated at 28 percent and 58 percent complete, respectively. The soybean harvest was 61-69 percent complete in Iowa and Nebraska by that date, but trailed considerably at only 25 percent complete in Missouri.
The late harvest was certainly threatening to narrow the fall window for fertilizer application in the Western Cornbelt, but had not yet impacted USDA’s assessment of crop quality. As of Oct. 19, 75-87 percent of the regional corn crop fell in the good or excellent categories, along with 74-75 percent of the soybeans.
California: California’s harvest continued under extraordinarily dry conditions in mid-October. USDA reported that 85 percent of the state’s rice crop and 55 percent of the cotton were harvested by Oct. 19, with both tracking well ahead of the average pace. California growers also had 35 percent of the winter wheat planted by that date.
The U.S. Drought Monitor at mid-month continued to place nearly all of the state in the extreme to exceptional drought categories, with only a small part of southwestern California labeled as a moderate to severe drought area.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at mid-month reported that drought recovery during the winte