See how it works
Know your costs
Estimate production costs and the cash price your budget needs.
Know your bushels
Separate stored grain, expected production, and existing commitments.
Know your timing
Map cash needs, storage space, and delivery windows.
Set your decisions
Record targets, review dates, and who approves each sale.
Put the important numbers in one place.
Put the important numbers in one place.
List unpriced bushels, committed bushels, delivery periods, and cash-flow deadlines. Keep crop insurance and production uncertainty in the discussion so sale commitments fit your likely ability to deliver.
A useful plan answers a specific question.
“If this price becomes available, how many bushels would I sell, for which delivery period, and what needs to be approved first?”
Review the plan when the farm changes.
Review the plan when the farm changes.
A yield change, storage constraint, or cash need can matter as much as a market move. Update the plan when those facts change, and keep a record of what you decided and why.
Get help where the plan gets difficult.
If choosing the tool, making the sale, or following through keeps getting pushed aside, a grain marketing partnership may be useful. Cash First combines an advisor, cash grain execution, Price Zones, and Grain Bank management.
Educational only. Source: Kansas State University, Grain Marketing Plans for Farmers.
Understand the cash price behind your target
General education, not personalized trading advice. Futures and options involve substantial risk.