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      2/19/08

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

            Exports still steady strong. Japan will tender tonite for 5.5 myn bu of milling (Reds) wheat. Iraq booked 1.8 myn bu US HRW over the weekend. Russia still has not resumed any wheat exports. Turkey did postpone their 7.2 myn bu tender due to poor weather. The inspection report showed continued strong shipments last week of 20.5 myn bu of wheat and 48.4 myn bu of corn.

            ABARE nudged their wheat production up a little to 13.1 mmt (from 12.7). They may still end up at 13.5 mmt before its all over. Most trade S&D’s are using a 13.5 myn mt mark. Also in Aussie their PACIFIC National Railway says freight hauls from NSW are not profitable and wants to abandon those wheat hauls. This would put tremendous strains on trucking and existing roadways. EU farmers are sounding off and becoming more vocal in SUPPORT of bio-tech crops. Farmer groups claim the cost of non-biotech crops may push 20% of the growers to bankruptcy…unless they can get more for their production, or reduce cost of gain. Argie says that early results of corn harvest are disappointing (not what you want to hear if you need to buy corn). An article over the weekend suggested that parts of the country could see yields down as much as 7% in many areas. Apparently late rains were TOO late to be very beneficial. Sometimes it is hard for us to understand just what these markets are doing in other parts of the world, especially when our shelves are stocked. Prices may be high, but there IS food to be had. In Pakistan, they have troops disbursed throughout the country to quickly put down any riots/ uprising from lack of food/ or high cost. Paki government has really clamped down on hoarders/ illegal price gougers. If flour mills do not grind AND distribute their entire daily quota they can lose their allocation. 27 mills have had 1-3 weeks suspensions, 2 mills have lost their entire allocation quota…additionally the Paki government said that those found guilty of hoarding/ price gouging will be named publicly.

***Didja Know: In response to being told he looked “cool”, Yogi Berra said “thanks, you don’t look so hot yourself”. Sez here Arnold Schwarzenegger paid $772,500 for golf clubs once owned by JFK. First minimum wage law was signed into law in 1938. It provided a .25/ hour minimum wage, and maximum 44 hour work week for minors….