Page 24—Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 17,1993 Com Growers Should Sell Large Part Of Crop By July 6 EVERETT NEWSWANGER Managing Editor WEST MIDDLESEX (Mer cer Co.) —From charts that show the average price fluctua tions of com for the last 22 years, Jim Bower, Bower Trad ing, Inc., West Lafayette, IN, told Pennsylvania com growers they should consider selling a significant part of their com crop by July 6. Speaking at the Pennsylvania Com Conference in February, Bower said historically, the price breaks in February, gets some volatility into spring, drops back when the crop gets in the ground and gets a season al rally going into July. Over the spring rally and the May to July period, producers should con sider maiketing strategies to sell 50 to 60 percent of the com ing crop. He suggested growers use a broker for part of the crop, and Two Nitrogens Better Than One STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.) When the Pilgrims arrived 300 years ago, Native Americans taught them to plant com and to fertilize it by burying a fish near each hill of com seeds. As the fish decayed during the season, it nourished the growing com. Scientists have conducted much research since then but admit they must still leam more about making nitrogen fertilization a more efficient practice. Concern heightened in recent years as fertilizer prices increased and, more recently, as people realized that excessive or poorly timed applications can result in the fertilizer ending up in water supplies. Sterling R. Olsen, a USDA soil scientist, has fine-tuned fertilizer applications and increased com yields up to 40 bushels per acre. His secret? He used two forms of nitro gen ammonium and nitrate. Growers today typically use one form or the other. “Applying the two forms at a rate that pro vides the same amount of available nitrogen as is usually applied in a single form increases the crop’s fertilizer use efficiency: the plants assimilate more. Such application also reduces the danger that some nitrogen will end up in water supplies,” said Olsen. Nitrogen fertilizers are either organic (manure and plant residues), or inorganic (commercial fertilizers). The organic forms must decompose before plants can use them. Inorganic forms are applied as nitrates and ammonium salts, or a combination of the two. Olsen found the most efficient nitrogen fertilizer combination to be the two forms of nitrogen nitrate and ammonium applied in equal amounts. A commercially available nitrification inhibitor, called N- Serve, helped keep the ammonium form of nitrogen from being converted to nitrate before com roots could absorb it. Top com yields were 221 bushels per acre. Olsen, now retired, conducted these tests in cooperation with Colorado State Univer sity on irrigated com growing on calcareous soils low in organic matter. the other part can be sold by for ward contracts. The broker is useful so that if you have a weather scare, you can get out of the contract. Of course, individual years vary from normal, but one of Bower’s points was that you “always assume the normal until you see the abnormal.” “If you are a producer and want to market your grain at the highest price of the average year and wait until after the sec ond week in July, you will prob ably not be selling in the top third of the com price,” Bower said. Bower showed a chart that proved farmers sell most of their com at the lowest time of the year. “There’s a certain truth to the fact that you need to know what production you have before you can sell it,” Bower said. “But you can’t wait until October to December to get rid CHECK OUT THESE FEATURES/BENEFITS Up to 40% lighter than steel, for greater payload Designed for long life Resale value Corrosion resistant, never needs painting Appearance to complement any truck Complete list of popular options, including tailgates, tarps and sides. Itiiii',''- s.F , M.H. Eby, Inc. I 1194 Mam Street (Route 23) B Blue Ball, PA 17506 V (717)354-4971 (800)292-4752 FAX (717)355-2114 of the crop and go on to the next year. Just by following the sea sonal tendencies, you can do a much better job of marketing. Grains usually make their high price in the spring and not the fall. Bower called the observation of seasonal trends his “refriger ator trade.” “Keep track on the refrigerator door how much of your com crop you have sold in the first seven months of the year,” Bower said. “It’s dis couraging, but farmers market most of their grain at the lowest pricing time of the year.” To describe the markets. Bower used wrestling as an example. “The funtion of the market place is to take as much money from as many people in the shortest period of time pos sible,” Bower said. “That’s why after 17 years of trading. I’m a little scared, always looking for that wrestler to come up and In grain bodies , aluminum makes Sense. X / / grab me from behind. But if you are astute and quick, you can make it. “The broker’s job is not always to be right; there is no broker that is always right. But the broker should have integrity and act as a coach, call time out, check them down, hold them when the situation gets panicky. “Speculating and hedging operate in a different world. 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But in the next five to 10 years, global invest ment opportunities from other countries like Japan, who want a second source of grain purch ases, will modernize the trans portation system in countries like Brazil. Once they get trans portation, they will be very competitive. As for this year’s com mark ets, Bower said he believes that from one to two billion bushels of last year’s com will have spoilage problems going into this summer. The com was harvested wet last fall and into winter. And when the warm weather hits the com belt, that com will need to be marketed (Turn to Page 25) • Greater payload efficiency • Maintenance-free service • Substantially higher resale value.
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