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Break-evens key to grain marketing in 2023

Many farmers are facing tighter margins compared to the last two crop years.

Glenn Wachtler with Compeer Financial says a good marketing plan should begin with break-evens in mind.

“Fertilizer costs are trending down a little bit (so) we need to put that back into our budgets to make sure we’re looking at our correct break-evens and not guessing at that. So we know where we need to be as far as pricing in our corn and soybean crops.”

From there, he tells Brownfield farmers need to execute on their risk management plan.

Wachtler uses $7 corn as an example.

“Well, what are your contingency plans for that? If that looks like it’s off the table, we need to readjust and realign and really look at a realistic marketing plan with the prices and also look at the dates (for selling) too.”

He says selling throughout the season helps mitigate risk and recommends forward contracting in April, May, and June when there’s a “bounce” in the market. 

Wachtler made these comments during an upcoming Compeer What’s Happening with the Grain Markets podcast, a content partnership with Brownfield Ag News.