Morrow County Grain Growers                             Pendleton Grain Growers

             Duane Disque or John Ripple                                      Jon Sperl

             1-800-452-7396 or 541-989-8221                           1-800-422-7611 or 541-276-7611

              or Dan Steiner 481-6614 (office), 571-3798 (cell)  graingrowers@centurytel.net

                                                            GOOD MORNING!!!

            Below are the best indicated market bids as of:   9:00  on      1/18/08

***NOTE: Corn values vary depending on delivery location PLEASE call for updates.

            Very hectic morning this morning. By the time you get this wheat futures will already have traded a .24 range, and are now back into the black. Corn has traded 10-12 lower and has recovered about ½ of that. SWW bids range all over the place, with the actual prices significantly different from the posted bids.

            Overnight Japan booked another 4 myn bu of US corn, and there are rumors that Paki may already be putting together a follow up tender to follow the one currently in progress. The Paki gov’t in Islamblad has promised flour mills 19 hours of uninterrupted electricity to ensure the ‘smooth, continuous flow’ of flour to their citizens. In Brazil, 52% of the bean crop has already been sold, and the USGC (United States Grain Council) announced their 1^st shipment of DDG’s to Algeria. Interesting side note: corn import duties to Algeria are 2.5%, while DDGs’s are 30%.

            Farm Bill debates will continue apparently for some time, as there is still a WIDE gap between Senate version, House version, and what the White House would be willing to accept. At the center of the debate will be tax increases to fund the bill. The White House says NO tax increases. An example is: White House projected $600 myn increased spending in food stamps over the next 10 years. The HOUSE version supports $11.1 BYN over the next 10 years. Direct payments to farmers are also under scrutiny, as well as ‘anything NON WTO compliant’.

            Anderson’s Grain Company (handles an annual volume of over 170 myn bu of grain/ year), says that due to credit costs, they will increase the fee structure for various contracts (like HTA). But starting August of this year, will no longer offer HTA caks at all. Most grain companies charge .07- .10/ bu for these type of caks (MCGG and PGG currently charge .05/ bu). Just the maintenance costs of various caks have risen so much that capital costs to maintain hedge positions can be staggering. Consider: less than 5 years ago maintenance on a single corn cak was $200, today it is over $1000, and with the volatility and margin calls can be EXTREMELY expensive to maintain these accounts.

***Didja Know: It has been estimated that in any given year, more gasoline is spilled filling lawn equipment than was spilled during the ‘Valdez’ disaster. About 18 acres of pizza is consumed DAILY in the US. The first ‘pocket’ transistor radio came out in 1954, cost $50 (about $300 in today’s $$).

                                                            HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND