Posted 8/20/2018 22:46 (#6940826 - in reply to #6940775) Subject: RE: 6 years ago.. beans were worth twice as much.
Colo, IA
JonSCKs - 8/20/2018 22:21
In August of 2012 Soybeans closed at $17.56.. and traded as high as $17.89 in September.
As of now.. September 18 beans at $8.76 are trading at 49% or $9.13 lower than that high.
I'm sure that Seed.. Fertilizer and Chemical prices will soon be following suit.
If soybeans go down from these levels.. who cares?
It's not like we're going to plant soybeans next year.. Lol.
And that one time windfall for farmers will continue to haunt us for a decade or more still due to the elevated costs of inputs that, as you mention, do not wish to correct for fear of upsetting the "stockholders" of those industries. They have us right where they want us. We NEED their products and as long as no one in the industry cracks and lowers their prices, nothing will change.
As happy as I was cashing those checks in 2012, I was terrified at the same time because I knew how much of a detriment those prices would ultimately be down the road.
I sat in on a focus study group this summer that we found out was funded by Channel after it was done. They asked us what could convince us to actually change the brand of seed we currently used to a new product? What could actually catch our attention and get us to consider a change? I told them to that if you want my attention, tell me I can buy all my seed at 2012 prices and lock those prices in for the next three years and I will sign up all my acres for that new product line. The moderator left the room to go talk to the people in the next room from Channel and when he came back he said it was the first time he had seen a room buzzing like that. They will never do it, but there is zero reason our seed prices should NOT be at 2012 price points right now. Their cost of production is likely near where it was then and we are vastly overpaying for traits like RR now relative to then when it actually would control nearly all the weeds instead of just being a grass killer. The reason they will not do it? Shareholders. They cannot tell their "owners" that they are lowering product prices 50%.
6 years ago.. beans were worth twice as much.
