Monday, March 30, 2026, 7:55 am

Friday was a mixed day for our markets.  Spot corn closed down 5 1/4, spot soybeans closed down 14 1/4, harvest winter wheat closed up 1/2 and harvest spring wheat closed up 4.  In the overnight trade corn and winter wheat are negative, soybeans are positive and spring wheat is mixed.  Oil closed up $5.16 on Friday at $99.64 per barrel.  It is stronger again this morning with it now valued at $101.36 per barrel.  Our dollar traded between a low of $0.720 US and a high of $0.722 US on Friday with it closing out at $0.721 US.  It has trended lower this morning with it currently valued at $0.718 US.

Wheat prices continued to be supported by growing weather concerns in the HRW wheat growing areas of the US.  As we mentioned earlier last week concerns with the cost and supply of fertilizer for farmers are affecting this market also.  More specifically there is concern in Australia that acres will switch out of wheat this year due to a shortage of fertilizer caused by the current conflict between the US and Iran.  Australia is a major fertilizer importer from the Middle East and with the Strait of Hormuz almost completely shutdown they are already seeing the effect on their supplies.

President Trump did hold his ‘Celebration of Agriculture’ on Friday and the EPA did announce their updated renewable fuels mandate.  The numbers were no big surprise to the marketplace and should continue to provide support to the soybean market.  On Friday the market pulled back as it was possible that it was thinking that even larger biofuel mandates would be announced.   They also did announce some other policy changes for US farmers that should be beneficial going forward.

Last week was a mostly positive week for our markets.  Spot corn closed down $2 per tonne with this year’s harvest up $1 per tonne.  Soybeans were up $1 per tonne across the board with spring wheat up $8 per tonne across the board.  Winter wheat was up $5 per tonne on the spot market and $4 per tonne for this year’s harvest.

Crude oil prices are above $100 per barrel this morning as the conflict against Iran carries on.  It is getting hard to see how this war can end anytime soon and as such crude oil prices have increased.  It will be interesting to see how our markets respond to this going forward.