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      4/30/08

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

            Futures markets are fairly quiet this morning, in slow/ choppy trade. $$ is stronger. Chicago is down 12-15 all option months, but KC is down 7-13, Mpls 7-22. Beans are mostly 30 to 40 lower, but many option months have not yet traded. Corn is anywhere from – ¼ to up 4 (depending on option month). Forecast for the corn belt says a ‘general’ shower’ this weekend, then another next weekend…so no dramatic shift in weather, although it is getting somewhat warmer. There is ‘chatter’ about cold weather coming into Ks, Co, Tx, Ok Friday nite/ Sat morning. Temps could get into the mid 20’s. What is important, is how low it goes, and how long it is there. Also due to the cold spring, the winter wheat ought to be much ‘tougher’ than wheat last year. Wheat development is about 2 weeks behind last year, so any damage is expected to be minimal, maybe only some burn on the leaves. Winter Wheat harvest will be ready to start in S. Texas within the next couple weeks. Rumors of leaf rust and powdery mildew in Ks have got people on alert. We have good fungicides available, but it is another cost/ thing for farmers to worry about. If it spreads unchecked yields can suffer dramatically.

            Sales reports: Corn sales totaled 21.7 myn bu o/c and 1.8 myn bu of n/c (23.5 myn bu total). Traders were hoping for something a bit bigger, say in the 23.6 to 37.5 myn bu range. Wheat did see some n/c activity. 6.5 myn bu of o/c and 11.9 myn bu of n/c. Overall wheat came in on the high end of traders expectations. Even though corn is testing new highs, OI continues to drop (OI on 4/28 for corn was 1.476 myn caks vs. 1.413 myn this morning), indicating traders are getting nervous, and consolidating positions or getting out). There is more talk about CRP acres and early release (no penalty). Sec of Ag Schafer said he will decide by Aug/ Sept. This year 130m acres were taken taken out of CRP with penalty. Farm Bill is closing in on 15-16 months. If/ When this thing passes, it will be very interesting to see just what it looks like after this much time has been spent on it.

            Argie farmers/ gov’t have agreed on wheat/ beef. Beef exports are to resume Friday, no word on Wheat. So far nothing new on beans. Indian gov’t has said they have already ‘procured’13 myn mt of wheat vs. only 7.7 myn mt this time last year. In fact they were only able to procure 11.1 myn mt all of last year.

***Didja Know: the most powerful electric eels can generate 400-650 volts? The RMS Titanic was actually a ‘Royal Mail Ship’? Some hummingbirds beat their wings up to 200 times/ minute?