For the last two years corn and soybean prices have tended to bottom out at or just before harvest. If so, storing to avoid price lows and to capture basis improvement along with post-harvest price gains may again be a profitable alternative. For grain that you can't store, avoiding harvest time price lows requires looking for and taking advantage of sales opportunities early in the season. Pre-harvest sales should be made before July 4 th. Seasonal price patterns offer good guides for beginning to make early marketing plans.
Prices tend to rally from fall lows into spring.
Late spring and early summer rallies often occur, in part, due to planting or production concerns. Using crop insurance to manage yield risk and spreading sales out on spring rallies is usually a better strategy. It may not get the market high, but it puts the odds for above average prices in your favor. That idea often stands in the way of good marketing decisions, especially early in the marketing year. This is always a real possibility.