RayJenkins - 12/14/2012 10:37 I would beg to differ that anything besides a cash sale is speculating..... I think the market conditions in both corn and beans are examples of where options or futures offer opportunities to manage risk Let's look at corn....in our market the bid for May delivery is +42K....but in this heavily inverted market structure that is also the equivalent of 142 OVER December 2013 corn futures.....those kind of numbers are "blue moon" items..... are you bullish that basis will be better than +142 over Dec 13 futures?....maybe, but the reality is that at some point in time, the basis will eventually be in the unders come next fall...... the other reason to consider futures/options is that most of these markets are offering very little in the way of carry.....if you have any reasonable use for the money, converting beans at nearly $15 to cash and purchasing options, option spreads, or futures is a prudent way to manage risk...and in the case of options creates a minimum price......in this environment, I realize that most believe markets have only one way to go....but then we are quite a ways off the 17.67 high in Jan beans, and that is with some pretty bullish news to feed on.... speculating---when it comes down to it......doing anything, or nothing, has a degree of speculation in it.... Ray J