As far as wheat goes, I am out of my element.

I would strongly suggest that you or others making planting decisions for next year take 11 minutes and listen to or read the transcript to the above Market to Market discussion link I posted above. This is recent - from last Friday's show - for the analyst's discussion of why wheat prices are where they are today. Their take on wheat is very different from what you report from the Ag online.

I think the ethanol situation is tied to oil prices. And I don't personally think we are going to see $15/barrel oil again. Ethanol also is doing a lot for rural America. While ethanol will not replace oil it can certainly be blended in at varying percentages.

Think about a Toyota Prius type hybrid vehicle with plug-in capability AND E-85 capability. This sort of system may make a lot of sense for our children and grandchildren but that is another discussion. Unfortunately we in this country also do not seem prone to making decisions based on long term factors, just next quarters stock dividend.

Long term ethanol does makes sense on an economic AND energy balance basis especially if you use newer techniques to reduce the fuel and fertilizer inputs required to grow the grain corn fuel crop and do not get sucked into using the whole plant.  But that is another discussion also. I should probably stay off of this marketing page too...

Jim at Dawn