Features Inoculants Seed & Chemical
Weather affecting planting progress and prices

April 27, 2011 -US-based commodity broker Cal Whewell is often heard to say, "The only cure for high prices is high prices." But continued cool, wet weather is preventing commodity prices from going anywhere but up.

According to DTN, corn prices have returned to the $7.00 range, with cash bids at elevators in and around London, Ontario, trading between $7.11 and $7.33 per bushel. Old crop prices are being driven by solid demand but new crop are being driven by concerns about rains delaying planting, not just in Ontario but across the US Midwest.

Soybeans are showing gains, as well, based on commercial buying on the new crop side, while the big question on the impact of delayed planting (and how many acres may shift from corn to soybeans) inject a little more uncertainty into the new crop picture.

On the wheat side, planting delays across the northern Great Plains combined with planting delays in the US southwest are causing a sharp increase in contracts. Early morning cash bids on hard red winter wheat were $7.81 while futures prices showed an $8.17 per bushel price for May wheat and $9.28 for December contracts. Having said that, the morning insights from ScotiaMcLeod indicate wheat prices are unlikely to go much higher than $8.50

Also in the news, it was announced that Concept, a foliar insecticide billed to provide soybean growers with immediate and residual control of aphids, has been registered for use for the 2011 growing season. The insecticide, from Bayer CropScience, combines two modes of action, and also offers protection from Japanese beetles in soybeans, as well as a variety of fruit and vegetable crops.