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Rising grain prices provide risk management opportunities for farmers

The recent runup in commodity prices is providing opportunity for farmers to mitigate some risk.

Tim Persinger who farms in southwest Indiana says three months ago he wasn’t this chipper. “It’s coming around where hopefully everybody can make a little bit of money,” he says.  “That’s we all got to make money or we’ll all be done.”

He says the growing season has been a challenge and there are inconsistencies in the crop.“We have several areas where the sloughs and low spots are completely drowned out, there’s nothing there,” he says. “But the way it looks, that where it’s good, it’s real good. The areas where it’s gone, they’re gone, but the good is going to make up for them.”

Matt Bennett, CEO AgMarket.net says farmers are seeing the best prices they’ve seen in three years and farmers need to reward rallies. “How much of that do you want to get a hold of,” he says. “Do you want to put yourself in a worst-case scenario where you’re going to make money if the markets plummet? We never know what the black swan event is. So, I want to be very strategic and at least locking in worst case scenarios. And I think this has been a wonderful opportunity to do that.”

But are farmers taking advantage of the uptick in prices?  Persinger tells Brownfield, “I did not.  He says he wants some certainty in this crop.  “I’m one of the guys I want to make sure I know what I have before I start selling,” he says. “And people said, well, you just got to try some. I’m giving it to Labor Day.”