While the use trend is clearly up, there are more occasions where production is higher than use even as world supplies decline, says Robinson. There is a cultural shift going on in China, where they are discouraging small family farms. Their standard of living is projected to improve, and they will opt to buy and import corn. Farmers have to be more aggressive marketing the old crop than the new crop. After June 15, the price of corn begins to go down, and the local basis begins to decline and deteriorate.
Worksheets are available for farmers to estimate cost of production per acre for corn and soybeans.
This is important information to know before planning marketing strategy, he advised. Then, create an objective driven by your attitudes. The next step is doing it by using marketing tools. ''A simple put strategy creates a floor and protects the price. It's not terribly complicated, but it takes some time. It's important to extract every penny you can from the marketplace,'' said Robinson.