GRAIN RECAPS
High totals for grain
UA operated at 132 percent of storage capacity
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By Lindsey Bowers
he 2014 grain harvest, with the
exception of a few acres of soybeans
is complete. Grain logistics this year
went very smoothly considering the size of
the crop and the intensity of the harvest.
United Ag handled 5,031,804 bushels of
corn, 1,757,023 bushels of grain sorghum
and, so far, 96,358 bushels of soybeans. In
total, this is 6,885,185 bushels of grain — a
6 percent increase in total bushels handled
from last year and a new record size crop.
This is operating at more than 132 percent
of our roughly 5 million bushel storage
capacity. This year, we had the opportunity
to move all of our milo at harvest with historically high basis levels. We also secured
almost 300,000 bushels of corn storage
offsite that we transferred to out of elevators
that were getting tight in space. This year, we
were able to avoid storing grain in the cotton
warehouse because of the opportunity to
ship 100 percent of the milo to port.
Availability of trucks this year was the
biggest challenge when trying to maximize
the efficiency of harvest. Several factors are
creating this trucking challenge, including
the oil and gas industry, stricter rules and
regulations being implemented and enforced
by TX DOT, and bushels being shipped direct
out of the field. This winter and spring we will
again be reviewing our dispatch program to
identify areas in which we can improve and
programs we can implement to encourage
drivers to haul exclusively for the coop.
We will likely be sending out surveys or
calling producers who used this service to
get your input.
Now that harvest challenges are over, we
are still faced with marketing the grain. At
this time, all of the milo and soybeans have
had basis set and have shipped. The corn
market is a different story, with basis values
encouraging storage. A high percentage of the
grain in storage does have futures values set.
8
The 2014 grain harvest, with the exception of
a few acres of soybeans, is complete. United
Ag handled 6,885,185 bushels of grain — a
6 percent increase in total bushels handled
from last year and a new record size crop.
The coop has many tools for marketing your
crop. Amongst these is the use of option strategies, which can help level out volatility and
protect significant amounts of revenue. Please
feel free to contact the grain department at
any time to discuss marketing 2014 grain or to
begin your marketing plan for next year.
marketing pool corn payments over time,
unlike the one large upfront milo payment. If
you have any questions regarding the pools
or marked to market equity in the pools,
please feel free to call the grain department.
Reminder, the Pool Sign-Out deadline is
November 30th for the following crop year.
The Marketing Pool made up 24 percent of
this year’s crop. We began marketing the pool
last fall, and are proud of the futures and
option positioning. We have made the first
payment for the milo, which composed about
95 percent of the total equity. We recently
made a payment for the corn. The marketing pool has 100 percent coverage with calls
spread out through July 2015. This will allow
for the pool to participate in any rally based
on harvest delays, crop size adjustments or
planting intentions. The final milo payment
will not be made until these positions have
been closed out. We are working to secure
more corn sales at higher levels. We anticipate there to be several
small
Last year in the fall magazine, we made a
promise to have grain production back online
as well as your loads and contracts e-mailed
to you. We made good on this promise and
seem to have several happy farmers. If you
would like to participate in this for next year,
it is never too early to tell us and we can get
your account set up.
We would like to extend a huge thank you
to our farmers for their cooperation and
support this harvest. We look forward to
continuing to serve you.
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