News

Farmer forward contracting grain as inputs rise

A Midwest grower says his grain marketing strategy as ag inputs become more expensive is his top concern.

Eastern Missouri farmer Mark Scott tells Brownfield forward contracting grain isn’t a bad idea.

“You have to lock in a profit when you can,” he said. “And it’s done it before where the inputs follow the commodity prices and then they don’t go down quite as fast as commodity prices can when it turns around.”

Scott said most ‘seasoned’ farmers have seen ag input prices react this way following strong gains for grain. But he says supply chain issues caused by damage from Hurricane Ida has amplified the situation.

“Glyphosate has more than doubled in price, so our commodity prices are going up but basically we’re just passing it through to the input costs,” he said.

Scott said grain and input costs tend to be counter-cyclical with input costs rising as grain prices fall or level out.