Shutdown
By Blaine Davis | Contributing Editor
HERE ON THE “RANCH,” I seemed to have suc- cumbed to that of the federal government, shutdown. As this editorial deadline loomed ever closer, my brain was idling. I wasn’t holding out for more compensation or increased subsidies; I was just uninspired and maybe could be accused of being apathetic. Quite frankly, I felt little or any effect from the political games being played at the nation’s capital as the shutdown reached six weeks. The game seemed to center on the reality of the legislative branch not passing bills to fund the executive branch to carry out the daily operations of the government. Since the executive branch is headed by Donald Trump, the senate Democrat Party, while in the minority, exhibited their disdain for anything Trump by not providing the needed votes to continue these operations. At the heart of the Democrat Party’s battle was the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly referred to as “Obama Care,” and the Supplemental Nutrition Assis- tance Program (SNAP) formerly labeled “food stamps.” It seems the “Dems” held the country hostage over these two programs when, in
saying,“Grains saw fund and speculative buying sparked in part by talk of the government possibly reopening this week. That provided a risk on environment for the bulls who have been flying blind with the lack of market data from USDA.” USDA will release the November crop production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports and Hudson said,“The grain markets were also gearing up for the data release.” National Agricultural Statistics Services officials say they are using the normal methodology for these reports but still bring up some questions about credibility, according to Hudson.“Are we going to get October data or Novem- ber? And that doesn’t matter. It does matter as far as how much objective data you have and what you can prove there?” Hudson says for corn, the expectation is for a confirma- tion of lower yields and he is in the camp of 180 to 181 bushels, but is not sure if the agency will be that aggres- sive until the
January reports. Weekly export inspections were strong for corn at 56.1 million
reality, these were at best oxymoronic examples of our govern-
IF OBAMA CARE IS ACTUALLY “AFFORDABLE,” THEN WHY DOES IT NEED MORE FEDERAL SUBSIDIES?
ment. If Obama Care is actually “affordable,” then why does it need more federal subsidies? Second, according to the Feeding America website, one in eight people or close to 42 million people receive SNAP benefits. For each billion dollars funded in SNAP, 13,560 new jobs are cre- ated. The simple math shows this to be $73,746.31 per job. With just these two examples, it’s no wonder there is a large distrust from anything coming out of Washington, D.C. Back on the “ranch,” the corn has been harvested with some forward contracted into 2026, and the wheat is planted. With the plentiful late summer and fall mois- ture, optimism prevails for next summer’s harvest. With two-thirds of the corn harvest stored at the county elevator, I am bumping up against the start of storage costs. Considering this, I consult the market reports almost hourly in an effort to catch an uptick. With the government shutdown, this is one area I have noticed an effect on my day-to-day operations, as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been idled and consequently crop report data is missing. Considering their past data reports, I am not convinced of their actual relevance. As per Sam Hudson with Corn Belt marketing
bushels and the running total is now 540 million bushels, which is up 66 percent from a year ago.“We can see corn inspections, I think, at an 18-year high this week. This could mean an upward adjustment from the USDA in the report for November. “Demand is strong but there is also more corn being shipped right now to beat the sinking water levels on the Mississippi and because of the lack of an export program for soybeans through the Pacific Northwest. I think it’s definitely part of both. You know, we were going into this fall with some pretty low river levels again, and we’ve been struggling with that reality for the last five years.” With my self-imposed deadline to avoid storage costs approaching fast, my critical trading data “fact sheet” has expanded to now checking the water level of the Mis- sissippi River. Armed with all this analysis and my utter confusion, I might as well flip a coin before calling my grain marketer. As I put off my corn marketing decision until tomorrow – not necessarily to ease my confusion but today is Veter- ans’ Day – thank everyone who served not only today, but every day.
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