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Winter grain sales offer opportunity for northeast Nebraska producer

A farmer in northeast Nebraska says he’s taking a cautious but optimistic approach to marketing his grain this winter.

Quentin Conneally says he didn’t sell much of his crop during harvest and wants to capitalize on price rallies.  “Luckily we had a decent enough harvest to get the bins full and now we just have to string out and deliver some grain this winter to pay some bills and keep the cash flow going.”  

He tells Brownfield yields in his area were down, which meant that storage wasn’t a problem for producers or elevators. “I think our area was so affected by southern rust and hail and windstorms. I think storage wasn’t as big of an issue as we thought going into the season. We squeaked by and delivered a little bit extra to the elevator but everybody had room to store it.”

Connealy says local basis levels could improve yet this year. “Sometimes elevators are starting to beg for some crop here in December and then as we get closer to the holidays some more opportunities will open up.”  

He says knowing his breakeven costs helps him determine when to lock in prices.