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Happy New Year! Another year in the books. Another year around the sun. We’ve lost friends and family members. Lost some customers. But we’ve also welcomed kids and especially grandkids into our families. May tomorrow and the next 365 days be filled with blessings for you and your family. It was an interesting growing season. Perfect spring weather allowed the crops to get planted. An ideal pollination window also helped. Summer dry conditions allowed the root systems to find moisture and nutrients. The late August rains were what we needed to finish this year’s crop. Both corn and bean yields were above everyone’s expectations. Here at the elevator, we knew the bean acres would be up because of last years wind storm but we didn’t expect yields to be as good as they were. We used two additional bins to store beans which are typically corn bins. Corn yields were great. We got the elevator full of corn too. Average moisture was around 18.5%. Test weight was good. Over all quality was way above average. We still need to check grain bins to make sure this quality remains good. Corn and bean futures have given us an opportunity to make some decent sales. We bought a lot of corn and beans over the last 30 days. Nearby corn basis should remain strong. Ethanol production has led the charge. Less than average corn yields to our west may also help. Bean basis probably won’t see much improvement until we get into late spring and early summer. According to the USDA we shouldn’t run out of beans this year. Markets should remain firm. South American weather has been somewhat on the dry side. Bean harvest has started in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Early yield reports are good. Fund managers like to trade daily weather forecasts and buying commodities is also a hedge against inflation. We hear that a lot from the folks in SA. Last week we mailed out deferred equity checks for business done in 2011. This was the largest equity payment we have made since I’ve been here. Thank you for your continued support. Be safe and have a Happy New Year!! Bob |
