Duane Disque or Brian Peiler                              Jon Sperl or Bryce Olson

             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/ 23/ 10

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

            It?s that time of year again??What will the AVERAGE AUGUST price be???guesses must be in by 3/1.

            The markets were called higher, but opened lower?they did make a charge to the positive side of the slate, but so far have been unable to cling to positive ground. Corn is down a couple, wheaties are down 4-6 (though they started down 9 rallied to even, and have since given up 5 or so).  Yesterday specs decided that MAYBE, just MAYBE there might be some planting delays, and came to town with the big checkbook and bot about 12,000 caks of corn (about 60 myn bu)! They also booked a bunch of wheat (in sympathy), but still have huge short positions in wheat. Gov?t says they wanna expand bio-fuels and levy new taxes vs. cutting the budget. The market is as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Once again our economists were ?surprised? by market reports this one on housing?.but they did say that though the market in the US is still declining, its not dropping as fast as it was. 3 markets posted new lows (Seattle, Charlotte and Tampa). I mention this because ?across the pond? there are serious issues as well. MANY Euro countries will face serious budgetary shortfalls?in the UK budgets WILL get cut, including AG?no sacred cows.

            Weather in SAM remains beneficial for crop development. Recent rains will temporarily slow harvest in Brazil, but are not seen as ?game changers?, only minor delays. Ukraine expects wheat exports this year to tally about 20 myn mt vs. 25 myn mt last year (overall reduced world exports). The Chinese gov?t has banned direct sales of animal feeds. If you don?t have a subsidiary set up, you must entrust a Chinese agency. All products must be wrapped (apparently no bulk) and labeled in legible Chinese. Algeria announced that they also will be importing less wheat this year as last years crop was better than expected.

***Didja Know: Mercury does freeze?at ?38?. So if you have an old thermometer, it won?t register less than ?38 (explains a lot about some of the winters I spent in Montana, especially during calving season). A windchill of ?25 will cause the skin to freeze (frost bite). It?s a popular belief that ?its too cold to snow?, but its actually never too cold to snow, but cold weather does make heavy snowfall unlikely.