This week, we turn to the nuts and bolts of marketing: what options do you have? How do they work? And most importantly, how do they fit into an overall strategy that maximizes opportunity while managing risk?
Tag Archives Basis trading
How to use the tools to build a sound grain marketing plan
Organize your marketing strategies to balance maximizing revenue, ensuring cash flow and limiting risk
Have you got your basis covered?
To score a grain marketing home run, understand and monitor basis levels
Basis is a marketing instrument utilized by grain handling companies to attract grain when they need it or to discourage delivery when they don’t. Used for crops that have an active futures trading market like wheat and canola, basis is the difference between a local cash price for a commodity and its price on the […] Read more
How grain companies are changing the numbers: Part 2
Know grain handling and cleaning charges to negotiate better prices
In my last column, I discussed how total grain production and total grain exports have not increased dramatically over the last five years. So why are grain companies building new facilities over this same time period? Grain handling is a volume and numbers business. If grain companies don’t handle the volume, they need to “change […] Read more
More on feeder cattle risk management
Market Update: Looking a little deeper into messages from the market
In the winter of 2017 I wrote a series of articles about price risk management for feeder cattle. I discussed hedging feeder cattle on the CME feeder cattle futures and also conducted a risk analysis on the basis for feeder cattle prices in Manitoba. Read more: Understanding feeder cattle risk: Pt. 1 Read more: Understanding feeder cattle […] Read more
Important to understand the futures
Market Update: Learn to use hedging tools when selling calves
Over the past year, I’ve received many inquiries from cow-calf producers about hedging feeder cattle. Most producers calve during the winter or spring and sell their feeders in the fall or the following winter after backgrounding. We’ve all seen how the prices can change within a six- to 10-month period. One of the most common questions I […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
