These big corps aren't like you and I, when we take a loss, we take a loss and deal with it however we can, by diversification typically.  These large Corps don't take the loss lying down.  To make a relationship, I see people post on here all the time "I bought a used tractor from my dealer, after 10 hours it tossed a rod out the side.  Dealer ate the cost of the short block and labor".  No, dealer didn't eat the cost.  The next 20 decent pieces that roll out of there, they come off $1,000 less than they would normally come off of them in good times and the buyers of those 20 pieces pay for that repair.  CHS is no different, $7-$8 a ton higher on fert and a dollar or two a gallon on chems company-wide can recover a bunch of that money quick, and then ZFS hopes for a dollar or better price rally for Boerson's acres this year and all of a sudden, things are looking up. Boerson may or may not ever get back to even, but ZFS / CHS will, and everyone who does business with them will make it happen.  I guess that is a direct tie to opportunity cost.  If the opportunity cost is worth doing business with them, then that's what we do and go on.  A co-op I sell a majority of my crop to is usually 8 cents to a dime under an elevator that is just a few miles closer.  4 our of 5 years, the patronage/dividends and ethanol kickback at the end of the year when they run their books usually brings me another 12-20 cents a bushel depending on their year.  I'd say over a 5 year average I make another 10 cents for every bushel by delivering there, roughly calculated.  There is some opportunity cost by not seeing that 8 cents to a dime at the time of sale at the closest place, but 8-10 months later I usually see that 10 back plus an additional 8-10.  The great part is, I usually forget about it, and it's like christmas when the check comes, as it did two weeks ago when I had forgotten about it lol.