patrick.net

We've seen parts of the farmers' protests in Europe. Well, at least some that slipped through the censors. The farmers in the US haven't been protesting. Looks like it might be a little too late for them to do much as it is mid-March.

What's been going on in the US grain markets is that a whole lot of Wall Street types (who don't care if they loose money) have been shorting the ever-living shit outta grain contracts. This has pushed corn down to $4.40/bu, wheat to 5.40/bu and soybeans to $11.78/bu.

For a lot of farmers, with those prices, it doesn't pencil in a profit for them given the escalated input costs. We may see a very small harvest this year, unless these market manipulators are driven out pretty quickly.

Misc says

What's been going on in the US grain markets is that a whole lot of Wall Street types (who don't care if they loose money) have been shorting the ever-living shit outta grain contracts.

Why don't they care if they lose money? They certainly will if low productions cause a price rebound.

If "they" short production, then it's a self-fulfilling prophesy. Farmers know what price crops will bring, so they plant less if they know ahead of time. In the early 20th century, before the FED, the northeastern banks would gear up for lending to farmers against grain at harvest. Mechanization and irrigation brought this to nearly a science (AKA a guaranteed juicy cut for the banksters) with the exception of events like the Dust Bowl, etc.