Are Options An Option? 

BY LARRY STALCUP

It's a popular saying Options are like insurance. You just hope you don't have to collect. Well, like other insurance, the cost of put options has gone...

Carrying Charges, Part 1 

BY ED USSET

With harvest just weeks away, it's not too early to ask the most important question in marketing grain after harvest: To store or not to store? How do...

Has The Tide Turned? 

BY RICHARD BROCK

This has truly been an incredible time in U.S. agriculture, and 2008 will certainly be recorded as the most profitable year in history for American grain...

Cash Flow Crunch 

BY JOHN POCOCK

The need to borrow money is the reality of doing business in today's new era of farming, says Chris Hurt, Purdue University Extension economist. The risks...

Have Grain Markets Peaked? 

By Richard Brock

Odds are high that both soybeans and wheat have established the highest price levels they're going to trade at for quite some time. Corn has likely made...

Marketing with Multiples 

By Larry Stalcup

If you can't live with $5.80 corn or $15 soybeans, don't use this strategy. That's not a warning from Gary Hinz, just advice to growers considering the...

Practice What You Preach 

By Larry Stalcup

Doug Brown practices what he preaches in marketing his corn. The McCook, NE, co-op grain merchandiser uses many of the same strategies he recommends for...

Is Your Marketing Advisor Worth the Fee? 

By Larry Stalcup

With the added chore of luring investors to regional biodiesel plants while tending to over 3,500 acres of corn and soybeans, Chuck Dunlop doesn't have...

Wheat Explodes! 

By Ed Usset

Corn and soybean futures are trading at remarkable prices, but I want to talk about wheat. I think the current wheat market particularly hard red spring...

How Early is too Early? 

By Doreen Muzzi

As is the case with any business, a grower's first priority is to make a profit and stay in business. How much profit depends on the difference between...