Headlines:
- Standby Corn Farmers! October ‘Rainfest’ Is Coming
U.S. farmers may face numerous stoppages of harvest activity in October, due to wet conditions. While harvest is ahead of schedule, initially the delays shouldn’t have big impacts. The problem areas remain northern Iowa and southern Minnesota, where already wet fields could have a hard time drying out. It’s possible that low-lying fields in those areas will have to wait for a hard frost in November to be harvested. Short-term, the Midwest could see a drier pattern, this weekend, Mohler says. “But, that early week front, next week, will be followed by another front late in the week,” Mohler says. “And each of those will move slowly through the Midwest, bringing fairly widespread rainfall and delays in harvest.” However, the entire month of October could have periods of heavy rainfall events in the Corn Belt, according to Dale Mohler, AccuWeather meteorologist. “Yes, it looks like October’s harvest weather looks wetter than farmers would like to see,” Mohler says. The wet weather, especially for the northern part of the Corn Belt, will last long enough into mid-month, to cause significant harvest delays, Mohler says. “The trough that is determining the storm track is too far to the west, centered over the Plains states. So, on the eastside of the trough, there is a southwest flow and that allows moisture from the Gulf to come up into the Corn Belt,” Mohler says. These fronts will trigger a lot of rain. “We will see one of these fronts come through the Midwest as early as next week,” Mohler says.
- Fed raises rates, sees at least three more years of economic growth
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday, as expected, and forecast three more years of economic growth as the U.S. central bank left its policy for steady rate rises in place. In a statement that marked the end of the era of “accommodative” monetary policy, Fed policymakers lifted the benchmark overnight lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of 2.00 percent to 2.25 percent. The Fed still foresees another rate hike in December, three more next year, and one increase in 2020. That would put the benchmark overnight lending rate at 3.4 percent, roughly half a percentage point above the Fed’s estimated “neutral” rate of interest, at which rates neither stimulate nor restrict the economy.
Summary:
Demand news helped the soybean market finish where it started at the open which was only slightly higher. In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil market was about 0.65 cents lower (late in the day) with the US dollar trading higher. The USDA announced export sales of 671,934 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to Mexico during the 2018-19 marketing year. As the US/China trade war continues, China has opted to continue buying more beans from Argentina and Brazil which in turn has resulted in US supplying Brazil and Argentina soybean to meet their newly found demand. Reports show Argentina corn production for 2018-19 is set to increase to 43 million tons from 31.7 million the previous year. Wheat production is projected to increase by 1.9 million tons to 19.7 million tons for the 2018-19 season. Soybean estimates for 2018-19 production come in at 53 million tons, which is 51% higher from the previous year.
