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Many farmers have taken advantage of market rallies

The incoming president of the Illinois Grain & Feed Association says many farmers have taken advantage of recent rallies in the grain market.

Mark Heil, general manager of Prairie Central Cooperative, tells Brownfield, “We’ve bought a lot of the grain from our farmers already.”  He says, “We hit the harvest lows, and it rallied back up unexpectedly. And when that rally was happening, we did buy quite a bit of that grain.  We’re gonna hold it more into the spring and summer time here, but the farmer has sold a lot of his grain here already this year compared to last year when they stored a lot of it.”

He says many elevators are holding onto that grain due to uncertainty.

“It can create both opportunities, or it can create a big problem, and it feels like we’re in a moment here where we’re not sure if it’s going to be an opportunity, or a problem, or a catastrophe, or what.”  He says, “We’ll have to see how that’s going to play itself out, but we’re a resilient industry, and we will work our way through it.  Just a little bit more unknowns than usual right now.”

Heil says those unknowns include increased grain market volatility, potential trade disruptions, and the overall farm economy.

AUDIO: Mark Heil – Illinois Grain & Feed Association