Heat of the Battle
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Partners & Friends,
Sometimes harvest feels like we are in a war with the standing crops and each day we go see what we can conquer. In the middle of harvest sometimes it seems we are making little progress and then suddenly we realize we are much further along than we thought. As I have referred to before this fall, the stalk quality of the corn is very poor. We are dealing with downed corn stalk problems that we haven't seen in over ten years. The warm and dry weather has caused the corn to dry down very rapidly (which is good for saving on drying costs) but harvesting is getting to be a struggle; Monday we spent the better part of the day working through 40 acres. We did deal with a combine tire problem that day too, but usually we can easily harvest 100 acres a day.
But enough whining! Our new cornhead is a real lifesaver and really glides through the downed corn and picks up a vast majority of it. Also the crop is a good one--both corn and beans! Marcus keeps reminding us that despite all the challenges the crop is good! And the crew we have in place is really doing a great job of filling in gaps. We really appreciate all of them!
Commodity prices are sideways to steady for harvest--looking like we will see some strength in the future. It does appear that Brazil is planting beans at a record pace and more acres than ever. We are trying to lock in some inputs for next year and the nitrogen for corn seems to be the most challenging. Some chemicals are going to be hard to source, mainly because the suppliers cannot get plastic containers to put the chemicals in.
Family updates: We made a trip to the apple butter festival in Missouri last weekend. Harper took a position as a 4-H officer. Phyllis is recovering from retina surgery. A beloved Uhman uncle - the oldest surviving sibling - passed away this week.
Fall Prices:
Corn 5.26
Soybeans 11.92
Keep in touch!
Steve
