Thursday, January 15, 2026, 8:45 am

Wednesday was a positive day for our markets.  Spot corn closed up 2 1/4, spot soybeans closed up 3 3/4, spot winter wheat closed up 2 and spot spring wheat closed up 1/2.  In the overnight trade corn, soybeans and winter wheat are now positive with spring wheat mixed.  Oil closed up $0.87 yesterday at $62.02 per barrel.  It is weaker in trading this morning with it now valued at $59.36 per barrel.  Our dollar had a high yesterday morning of $0.721 US and has trended mostly lower since then.  This morning it is currently valued at $0.719 US.

It is very interesting to see how prices have reacted since the USDA report on Monday.  Specifically looking at soybeans they were down on Monday but probably not as much as might have been expected with the numbers released.  The big increase in carry out stocks for the year in the US and the ever-increasing production in South America were the two big negatives for the market.  It is looking like both of these negatives were mostly already priced in with the pull back in prices that has occurred over the last month.

With the report on Monday, it was thought that the amount of corn utilised for the ethanol grind may have been reduced slightly.  It was not and weekly ethanol production for the US was just released for last week and they set a new record of 1.196 million barrels per day.  This was an increase of almost 100,000 barrels per day from the previous week.  The previous weekly production record of 1.131 million barrels per day was just set in December.  It is looking like this number is going to stay strong and maybe the USDA was correct in not decreasing the amount of corn projected to be utilised for the year in ethanol production.  Something positive in a mostly negative corn outlook for sure.

With the snowy day today, it might be a good time to take a look at some prices.  The negative report on Monday did pull back prices but we should note that spot prices were down twice as much as harvest 2026 prices.  New crop prices are still relatively strong compared to the last few years and I still think they are at a level that most farmers should be taking some risk off the table and making some small contracts.  Give us a call anytime how this could work for your specific farming operation.