Farmers Continue To Watch Markets Rise

May 10, 2021

Farmers are continuing to watch the markets rise.

Brian Voth is president of IntelliFARM Inc.

"I don't think this volatility is going away anytime soon," he said. "With the tightness in the stock situation on the old crop side, really what it means is that there's no buffer for new crop and any production problems this year. I think we're going to see these higher prices stick around at least until we know what the crop is looking like by mid-summer, later summer, that sort of thing. Even at that point, it's questionable whether we actually have the ability to build balance sheets back up in one crop year anymore, just because of how tight things have gotten."

Voth believes prices will come back down to earth.

"I do think that we're in for a period of higher prices, but that said, don't get lulled into thinking the $15, $18, $20 or even $24 canola is the new norm. It's not and we will go back to normal at some point. I don't think it will end up being for the 2021 crop year."

He commented on daily limits being increased.

"Anytime any of the grains trade and close at a limit...if it closes locked at a limit, up or down, the exchange actually expands the limit for the following day...One way of adding volatility or adding range, if you want to call it that. They're increasing the range because there's obviously a lot of interest at the higher price or lower, depending on which way you go and they increase the range effectively to try and get people in or out of positions that couldn't because we ended up locked at the limit the previous day. Everyday that we close at limit, the limits will get expanded for the following day."

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.