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Hillari Mason

Market Analyst, Pro Farmer

Hillari grew up on a family farm in southern Illinois, where she learned to love agriculture and its lifestyle from a young age. Hillari graduated from Murray State University in 2012 and began working for Cargill as a grain merchandiser shortly thereafter. Her time there yielded expansive market knowledge, producer relationships and series 3 and 30 licenses. Hillari joined Pro Farmer in June 2022 and received her master of business administration from the University of Southern Indiana in 2023. Hillari lives on her own farm in southern Indiana and spends the bulk of her days studying futures markets.

Latest Stories
USDA reported inspections for corn, soybeans and wheat within trade expectations. Corn inspections remain steadily ahead of year-ago, while soybeans went from notably trailing year-ago to running ahead.
Weekly soybean sales for week ended Sept. 14, were reported at 434,100 MT, short , over 100,000 MT shy of the low-end pre-report estimate, while weekly corn and wheat sales landed just above the low-end estimate.
Weekly corn inspections totaled 642,095 MT, up 16,851 MT from the previous week and are running 10.5% ahead of year-ago, while soybean inspections totaled 393,004 MT and are trailing year-ago by 16.2%.
For week ended Sept. 7, USDA reported weekly soybean sales of 703,900 MT, 34.2% behind a year ago at this time. Weekly meal and oil sales notched net reductions during the week of 201,600 MT and 3,900 MT, respectively.
USDA reported weekly new-crop corn sales of 949,700 MT in week ended Aug. 31, which was near the top-end pre-report range, while soybean sales totaled 1.78 MMT. A fresh marketing year began Sept. 1.
In its September WASDE, USDA increased planted corn acres, offsetting the reduction in yield to 173.8 bu. per acre, down from 175.1 in August. Soybean planted acres rose slightly, while the yield was trimmed to 50.1 bpa.
Weekly new-crop corn inspections have kicked the marketing year off ahead of last year at this time by over 4%, while soybean inspections lagged by over 21% in week ended Sept. 7.
USDA’s Weekly Export Inspections data was within pre-report estimates, though corn and wheat inspections fell notably on the week, while soybean inspections rose slightly.
Scouts measured average corn yield potential of 181.34 bu. per acre. Pod counts in a 3’x3’ square averaged 984.39.
Scouts measured average corn yield potential of 182.80 bu. per acre. Pod counts in a 3’x3’ square averaged 1,190.41.