Futures markets were also choppy overnight, with slight gains in cash contracts of corn/soybean/oats, accompanied by declines of about 2 cents per bushel in all classes of wheat. There will be no problems for the eastern Corn Belt, with farmers there now likely fully into getting the 2007 soybean crop planted in a timely fashion. Aggregate receipts of corn, soybeans and soft red winter wheat at CBOT-surveyed sites were reported at volume 60% below week-earlier levels, perpetuating a...

He said that corn markets are more fickle than they've been in a long time because of the uncertainty over this spring's weather and the need for a large crop. Last week's persistent rains put Wohlford behind schedule, as he and his sons have only planted 700 of the 1,100 acres of corn that they intended to put in the ground. Skyrocketing demand for corn to make ethanol has jacked up corn prices and caused farmers to say they plan to plant their most corn acres since 1944. Ray Gaesser,...

The chemical linked to cat and dog deaths on two continents has made it into pig feed and perhaps onto California tables, with state agricultural officials announcing late Thursday they've quarantined a Ceres hog farm where lab tests showed melamine in pig urine. The chemical linked to cat and dog deaths on two continents has made it into pig feed and perhaps onto California tables, with state agricultural officials announcing late Thursday they've quarantined a Ceres hog farm where lab...

The report underscores how favorable weather is needed this summer to produce a large enough crop to meet expected demand, some market participants said. In Nymex energy trading, crude oil futures rose to a one-week closing high, boosted by strength in gasoline futures due to refinery glitches and by an International Energy Agency report that said Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' crude output may not be sufficient to deal with summer demand. Kellogg co., for example, has...

Soybean planting is just beginning, but already the crop s planting progress is falling behind the curve as noted in the USDA data: Yep, corn, the grain market already besieged with intensified demand a la the ethanol craze, the price of which had been elevated during the fall to more than $4 a bushel. This is not surprising given the sizable carry-out and cover in soybeans, via last year s leftover US crop, and the bumper crop harvested in South America. HenceI observe the chart on...