Producers Facing Marketing Challenges in 2023-24

Jan 19, 2024

With commodity prices down in 2023-24 compared to previous years, producers have a much more difficult marketing task on their hands.

“When Russia went into Ukraine, when Brazil was having a drought, you could fall off a turnip truck and still do a good job of marketing grain because the price just kept coming up,” Steve Kell, a Simcoe County crop farmer and grain merchandiser for Kell Grain told attendees at the Ontario Agricultural Conference earlier this month.

Today, the landscape is much different, with US corn and soybean futures currently trading around three- and two-year lows, respectively.

Kell, who walked the crowd through the supply-demand dynamics at work in the major crop futures markets as part of his presentation, said one of the biggest mistakes farmers can make in the current environment is refusing to accept that the strong prices that marked the past couple of years have come and gone. Trying to hold out for last year’s price is simply a recipe for missing the selling opportunities the market is giving you this year – even if they don’t seem as good.

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