Historically, your best price opportunities are the year before the crop is planted. It’s all about the level of uncertainty. A year from now, you have no idea what the weather or markets will be. This uncertainty creates opportunities for the markets to reward or encourage.
Once the crop is planted and starts to emerge and pollinate and looks like it’s in line with the trendline yield, then most of the variability goes away and there’s very little uncertainty in the market. Most years, the harvest price tends to be lower than the spring price because there’s less uncertainty.
When you look at the price charts, there’s opportunity.
If you have a good handle on your operation, including knowing your cost of production, it’s easier to take a longer-term view and consider taking some risk off the table early. One strategy is to establish a floor price while leaving the topside open.
Talk to your insurance officer about products that can help you accomplish this. We have many private product options available to help you reduce risk and maximize your revenue, even a year before the crop is planted.
Oftentimes, producers watch the markets closely, trying to hit the top. In baseball, this would be swinging for a grand slam home run. It’s something that will show up on the highlight reel, or in this case, bring bragging rights at the coffee shop. But a consistent winning baseball season is made on base hits. Likewise, a profitable farming season is made by having the right strategies in place to cover your risk, allowing producers to take advantage of marketing opportunities, often before the crop is harvested.
Our insurance officers have the technology and tools to help producers look at their operation and its goals and match them with strategies and products to get those base hits for a winning season.
