6/4/2024

The path of least resistance continues to prevail with corn down nearly 25 cents and soybeans losing around 70 cents over the past six sessions.  The first installment of crop conditions for the 2024 U.S. corn crop didn't give trade any reason to take the market higher.  The good/excellent rating for the crop as a whole debuted at 75%, with the crop coming in well above last year's ratings for this week.  The most notable improvements were Illinois with a 22-point increase and Nebraska with a 17-point increase in ratings compared to last year.  Weather patterns and models are expecting the current wet trend to turn dry going into the second half of June and carry on into July.  This should encourage trade to buy leading into the planted acres report at the end of the month as long as our weekly crop conditions reports support it.  We still want to be sold out of old crop and over half sold on new crop going into this quarterly report at the end of the month.  Over the past few years, we've learned that prolonged dryness is not necessarily bullish.  Timely rains make a better crop than consistent rains!