ROAD AHEAD

(again) … Course not (till it is in a bin).

My long ago August update still looks in tack. 2025 corn pretty similar to 2024. My Meme Stock Beans maybe similar as rain again cut off and August stayed hot AGAIN BUT to be honest if we had zero yield beans it might not move the needle.

Come on boys, get your act together. Farmers can not legally do international trade like Temu does us. In every medieval war the poor peasants in the front lines with mere pitchforks were the first to go.

As for stress degree days, we are running a bit hotter, but a bit wetter in July as I say, so that might cancel out. And August turned off a bit dryer with a hardly matters rain projected for a little less and a little earlier than when the rain hit 2024. So as I say a bit “same ol same old” (including lack for exports to the once big buyer before we thought starvation might be a plan)

Of course fortunately there is no such thing a global warming (good luck with that) but tell that to the corn which got a drink quickly cancelled by some far more frequent hot days.

We blew through that “140 units of Stress Degree Day” so will be interesting if water breaks made any difference vs stress yield losses.

GDU vs 2024 comparison

NOW in 2012 by this time we had hit a whopping 220 Stress Degree Days back early July pollination window and were at 490 by dent stage … so there is that “a whole lot worse”.

Only the government and Chicago traders work off of perfect yields. Still at this point, with combines rolling, I still look at the numbers and my mid season corn even planted a bit earlier 2025 and I only come up at about 25% predicted moisture.

No one should know this stuff. I should either be dead by now from all the stress of decades punching my own numbers to even be able to calculate these worthless facts … or should go get a life (preaching to the crowd)

Still a witch doctor reading the bones useless effort but “Hay” we need something to ignore the lack of markets “elephant in the room” and oddly, lemonade out of lemons, I cut a grass waterway Tuesday and raked it Thursday 2 days later. THAT you can’t get away with in mid September most years. So the idiot here took down a pool way too early BUT at least we scrounged a bit of $ to turn the AC back on a bit longer while we wait for an affordable moisture to give away crops into.

MEME BEANS

So we went 3 hour drive over to the Farm Progress Show 2025 in Decatur

One of the many booths was the Illinois Soybean Association with some run the gauntlet, collect pins and listen to presentations to earn a tote bag

Not even noon and an investment of all that time nets a “oh we are out of our allotment for the day … as a pile of boxes for Wednesday and Thursday sat in plan view.

Now I won’t judge if my paying the association their check off at 5x what banks give in now interest on the bean sale cash left after their cut or if “free bags” to bean farmers is an applicable investment of “my money” but…

IF MY Illinois Soybean Association spends all the time and cost of investing in the premiere AG show the world attends each season and skimps on limited allocation of promotional materials… one has to wonder if they are treating my beans for $ale as a numbered print limited availability meme stock?

I mean the limited number of bushels in a certain countries possession it just as well be that attitude!

If they are not ready to peddle bags are they even planning right to peddle my beans?

Maybe 2026 they will figure supply and demand out cause beans are hurting and we may need bags for the food pantry runs with this mind set in the foreground <#satire>

EARLY DAZE (again)

May 5: Are we there yet…hardly with months to go
(per usual, about the only thing that is)

So… Here we go again, drag out and refresh old post … other then I must just be getting older or this year is INSANE (maybe it’s just me but I seriously doubt it)

We can rehash how prices are hanging by a thread, exports and friends we need to buy our wares are running for the door but if you want something to really worry about knocking on the door is that despite insane hours & perfectly timed (historic trend wise) planting (still 3 days from emergence) we are hardly getting even the minimal rains that described the drought of 2012.

NOT having something to sell might solve the first 2 worries … but it opens a far worse irreparable can of worms.