Martin Family Farms : January 2011

You make the call...

We are continuing to see the strength in the markets hold up as we enter the important month of February. I always like to see strong markets in February because that is the month that our crop insurance spring price is set. The average December futures price on the Chicago Board of Trade for the month of February multiplied by 85% of my 10 year yield history is the amount of revenue that I will be guaranteed if I buy that level of insurance. That is the easy part. The hard part is marketing the grain. Right now we can sell corn to our local elevator and lock in a pretty nice profit for 2011. We have done that with almost half of our crop already, but are still waiting to sell or lock in a price on the remaining bushels. Most people would think that it is an easy decision to make since we are above break even prices, but knowing the possible revenue that could be generated by higher prices keeps us on the sidelines with our remaining bushels. The tricky part will be how much downside will we give the market before selling more grain and not dipping below profitable levels. These decisions are evaluated on a daily basis and can change with the next news story so we always have to be ready.

This week on the farm looks pretty slow with the big snow/ice storm coming. We still have two grain bins to clean out, but will probably have to wait until mother nature allows. Also don't forget if you are in the area this weekend to go to the Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair in Joliet for all of the latest information on trends in Farmland and the ag industry.

Jan 31, 2011 6:40:05 AM

Always Something.....

With the march 15 crop insurance deadline creeping up on us a lot of big decisions regarding crop insurance will be made in the next month. A lot of the previous policies that were offered have now been combined into one which is supposed to make things a little easier. However, as things are supposed to get easier something else comes along to offset it. In our area the high risk maps have been updated or changed and now include a lot more acres than previous maps. Basically, high risk areas mean any field that is close to a creek and is prone to flooding is in a high risk area costing the producer a lot more money to insure those acres. In our area we have several drainage ditches creeks and many of these areas previously were not included on the high risk map. The new maps now include lots of these areas and on our farm about 5% of our acres are now in the high risk area. The yield history is very good on these farms so we are hoping that we can get the premium reduced or even taken out of the high risk area, but if not we probably will not be able to afford the coverage like we have had in the past. Once again we are left to wonder who, why, and how the new maps were drawn and what the reasoning was.

Jan 24, 2011 12:32:19 PM

Come to the Farmland Investment Fair

Over the past several years dad has been very involved with The ChicagoFarmers organization. One of the responsibilities he still has is co-chair of the annual Farmland Investment Fair. This is usually one of the highlights of winter meetings that allows landowners and producers an opportunity to learn new ideas, network with others and catch up on the latest farmland trends. If you are in the area on February 5 please stop by and say hello, we will have a Martin Family Farms booth and would love to meet you. For registration and more information go to www.chicagofarmers.org

Jan 17, 2011 7:20:28 AM

What will 2011 bring ?

It is hard to beleive that we have entered another year and are only 3 months away from planting corn. This time of year for our operation is spent finishing up bookwork from 2010 and getting 2011 into the books. Although we do empty some grain bins in January most of the month is spent in the office paying bills reviewing budgets, going to meetings and getting everything in place for the upcoming growing season. There is also some time for a little bit of vacation. Last week we spent thee days in Arkansas duck hunting with some of our friends.

One of the unique things about what we do on the farm is not knowing what the new year will bring. Almost everyday we make decisions and deal with challenges that we were not expecting. Things change so fast and being able to deal with the changes whether they are good or bad is one of the things that I enjoy about farming. Every year when we start over again I always like to look back and review the unexpected things that happened and wonder what kind of challenges the new year will bring.

Derek, Dad , and myself with a hard days work in Arkansas