Corn producers: Initiate 2027-28 crop sales... December 2027 corn futures are trading above $5.30, the highest price in nearby futures in three years, offering an opportunity to lock in revenue at relatively high prices. We advise cash only marketers and hedgers to initiate corn sales totaling 10% of expected 2027-28 production. Cash only marketers should be 70% forward sold on the 2026 crop while hedgers should be 60% covered.
Soybean producers: Initiate 2027-28 crop sales... Soybean futures broke to fresh multi-year highs and November 2027 futures are trading well above the $12.00 mark. While the market could continue to work higher, historically high prices offer an opportunity to lock in revenue. We advise cash only marketers to initiate sales on 10% of expected 2027 production. Cash only marketers should be 75% sold on expected 2026 production, while hedgers have 65% of expected 2026 production covered. Check our advice monitor at ProFarmer.com for updates to our marketing plan.
Grain and oilseed futures sharply extended gains Wednesday after Bloomberg reported that Russia is preparing to escalate attacks on Ukraine after the Kremlin concluded that talks toward a peace deal had reached a dead end.
Wheat led the way higher, with September and December soft red winter wheat contracts both ending up the 45-cent daily limit. Expanded limits of 70 cents will be seen on Thursday. December hard red winter wheat futures jumped 38 cents and December spring wheat rose 28 cents. December corn rallied 13 cents to a contract-high finish at $5.36 ½, while November soybeans jumped 28 ¼ cents to $12.66, also a contract high.
The prospect of escalated Russian attacks raises fears that grain shipments out of the Black Sea region, already curtailed due to strikes by Ukraine and Russia on each other’s infrastructure, will remain choked off for an extended period. The strength in wheat spilled over to corn and the soy complex. Russia and Ukraine together account for more than a quarter of global wheat exports.
- Note: Politico reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials in Moscow this week not to escalate conflict with Washington’s NATO allies, particularly Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Ratcliffe also used the trip to press Moscow to reduce military and economic support for Iran, the report said.
White House reportedly pressing for bigger SRE exemptions: The White House is pressing environmental regulators to grant small oil refiners more exemptions to biofuel blending requirements than initially projected as the Trump administration attempts to ease gasoline and diesel prices at the pump, Reuters reported Wednesday.
- What to know: Each gallon of biofuel produced generates renewable lending credit, called RINs. Federal law requires refiners to blend tens of billions of gallons of biofuels into the U.S. fuel supply or buy RINs from those that do. Smaller refiners can apply for exemptions if they can show that being forced to meet the requirements would be a hardship. The Reuters report said the Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing 34 exemption requests and has projected issuing enough waivers to cover around 1 billion RINs.
- What’s happening: According to Reuters, the White House has asked EPA to waive a higher volume. The report said several oil and biofuel industry representatives briefed by the administration have said they expect EPA to approve between 1.2 billion and 1.8 billion RINs in small refinery exemptions, or SREs, cutting substantially into overall biofuel blending mandates for the year. EPA had set a mandate for a record 26.81 billion RINs for 2026.
Farm and biofuel groups have pushed back against talk of substantially higher exemptions. The American Soybean Association on Tuesday said such a large increase in exemptions would slash demand for biomass-based diesel by around 500 million gallons, cost farmers approximately $1 billion in lost revenue and put refiner interests ahead of farmers (see Tuesday’s Evening Report: Fear of a biofuel rug pull).
Key inflation reading: The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index for July came in a smidge hotter than expected, up 0.2% versus the average 0.1% forecast from economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal. The gauge was up 3.7% over the past 12 months. A version of the index that strips out food and energy costs, and serves as the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, also rose 0.2% in July, while the year over year rate was unchanged from June at 3.3%. The data didn’t scream for an immediate rate hike from the Federal Reserve but won’t soothe hawks on the central bank’s rate-setting committee who have pushed for a hike in the face of inflation that remains above the Fed’s 2% target and worries the effects of the Iran war and trade policies could stoke price pressures.
Trump open to look at beef regulations: President Donald Trump on Wednesday indicated he was open to changing federal beef-processing regulations, saying a loosening “could be a very good call for ranchers or farmers – no, for the country,” Bloomberg reported. Trump, in an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck, didn’t provide details on what regulatory changes he might consider. The remarks come as Trump faces a backlash from cattle producers over a decision to boost foreign beef imports.
Bigger South African corn crop: South African farmers are expected to harvest 4.5% more maize in the 2025/2026 season compared with the previous year, Reuters reported, citing the government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC). The CEC’s seventh summer crop forecast estimated the 2026 maize harvest at 17.4 million metric tons, up from 16.65 million metric tons harvested the season before, the report said. The last estimate, on July 28, had put the 2026 harvest at 17.363 million tons.