Weekly grain report

7/27/12: For all the action this week, Chicago's December corn futures only closed 2.5 cents lower than they did last week. Wheat futures weren't quite as fortunate, as Chicago's September futures lost 45 cents, and white wheat lost 30 cents. At some point, corn is going to be less subject to the weather as the critical yield-making time has mostly passed. However, another hot and dry week in the western corn belt could add some juice to next week. Soybeans are much more weather-dependant at the moment, and the weather is supposed to cool down and get wetter for Illinois through Ohio. It doesn't look like things are going to calm down any time soon, so it should be a very interesting year for grain marketing.

7/30/12: The grain markets started Monday off with a bang with Chicago's December corn futures finally breaking through the $8.00 barrier, closing at $8.14 (up 20 cents). Soybeans were up over 40 cents, and Chicago wheat futures tagged along gaining 16 cents. White wheat was up 15 cents early in the afternoon, however it fell off a dime as the evening session of the futures market saw Chicago down as much as 15 cents. The corn and soybean crops continued their decline as both lost another 2% out of the good to excellent categories, which was within traders' expectations. Harvest is now in full swing in the Odessa area and so far the yield results have been described as variable.