09/15/2023 Quick Harvest Would Support Early Seasonal Price Lows

PLEASE REFER TO THE HEDGE AND TRADE STRATEGY PAGE FOR UPDATES!! Harvest is now upon us and, with the way weather looks, it could be a year where the crop is put away much more quickly than normal. A mostly clear two-week outlook comes as an extension of the dry weather that has rushed crop maturity along. Corn maturity at 34 percent last week was 10 points ahead of last year. At this same point in 2012, corn was called 58 percent mature. Looking back at harvest progress in past years brings up a few points of comparison that may say something about what to expect next. 2012 was the fastest year on record that the corn harvest reached more than two-thirds complete. In most years, 65 percent or more of the harvest has been completed sometime in between the last week of October and the first week of November. In 2012, 69 percent of the harvest had been finished by the first week in October. While this year’s drought damage was not as widespread as it was in 2012, dry weather and the rush to maturity will no doubt have had a negative impact on yield outcomes. The silver…