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Farmer evaluates marketing strategy as corn and soybean prices ease

Corn and soybean futures have come down from their recent highs, and a farmer in eastern South Dakota says he wishes he would have locked in more new crop sales.

“I locked about 10 percent in for fall, but I had not locked enough,” says Paul Casper.

He tells Brownfield he was hopeful the conflict in the Middle East would be over by now and fuel prices would have also declined.

“I’ve not ever paid $4.90 for farm fuel,” Casper says. “I didn’t lock enough of that in either.”

He says he was satisfied with old-crop marketing decisions, using extended price contracts to capture decent prices on 80 percent of his crop, even though he didn’t sell at market highs.

Casper says even experienced farmers can’t predict everything that’s going to happen, and plans are having to be adjusted repeatedly in this environment.

Market analyst Randy Martinson recently told Brownfield that some farmers have been making new crop sales earlier than usual this spring.