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Illinois farmers weigh marketing strategies amid uncertain corn and soybean prices

A pair of Illinois farmers say marketing this year’s corn and soybean crop may be the most challenging part of the season.

Mark Wilson, who farms in the northern part of the state, says he’s holding onto a lot of his crop in hopes of positive market news.

“Probably a third of my crop is forward sold.”  He says, “The rest of it I’m pretty confident, you know, we’re gonna see some more good deals coming out yet. I’ve heard some good things coming yet from another couple of countries. So, I think we’ll see a chance to market our corn at a better price.”

John Klemm, who farms in central Illinois, tells Brownfield he’s sticking with his plan to store about a third of his crop.

“That’s the on-farm storage that we’ve got.”  He says, “We considered not storing so many soybeans for a number of different reasons. Not sure that there was going to be the carry in the market going forward, but as we got into harvest and we saw the yields that we were having, we kind of changed that plan, and that’s kind of the name of the game in a farming operation, right, be willing to call an audible.”

He says, “I think the critical part of that is know your costs, know your cost per acre, know your break-even point, and make decisions from there. We never know what the best price is or what the worst price is, but stay consistent in your planning and your process, and hopefully it’ll work out in the end.”

Both farmers remain optimistic that more profitable commodity prices are on the horizon.

AUDIO: John Klemm – Illinois farmer