If you’re reading this, you’ve survived. Congratulations! I know I said this the last time I wrote a review but this time I really mean it. I truly hope anyone who has come down with it recovers in a timely manner. We did cancel our annual picnic in July but did have our annual meeting on Sept 17th. We had 30 people attend the meeting. About 10 or so less than the last couple of years. We had a record earnings year! We are paying 50 percent of this year’s cash portion in March. Normally we only pay 25 percent. This year’s patronage rates are: 7.39 cents on grain purchased and sold to members, 1.00 cents per bushel on direct ship bushels, and 13.37% on merchandise and services. On behalf of our board of directors I’d like to thank you for your support and patronage. The wind storm in August will probably play a bigger role in this year’s volume and earnings than the dry August. We were very fortunate not to have received any structural damage because of the wind. That can’t be said about the corn crop. Several corn acres have or will be destroyed in the coming weeks. We had a hand full of reports that the corn on the ground had some nice ears on the stock. Hard to dry and market bushels that don’t come across the scale. Corn yields and moisture will be all over the board based on the amount of damage producers received. Acres to the north will be better than the corn south of the elevator. East and west areas will be about the same. So far bean yields are better than expected with no rain to speak of in August. As of now I’m guessing 60 bu/acre will catch most of our beans. The year’s export business (mostly to China) has kept corn and bean basis pretty firm. The wind damage to the corn crop will keep the processor’s corn basis strong until we see what kind of a corn crop, we’ll have next year. The USDA Sept 1st stocks report adjustments will also keep the future markets supported. With carryout coming down on both c/b it will be all that more important to harvest a large crop this fall. We have had a nice run up in our cash price for both c/b ever since the USDA crop production report on August 12th. We have purchased a lot of bushels old and new crop since this report. We also have to keep an eye on the weather in SA. They are a little dry for this time of year. Have a safe harvest season! Bob |
