Mark Conlon

1 day ago | agupdate.com | Mark Conlon

Lately there’s been no shortage of uncertainty and volatility in the stock market, but so far, the grain commodity markets, including corn, have held up well, relatively speaking. “Corn prices have actually been pretty resilient given all of the concerns about trade and tariffs and, more importantly, retaliation,” said Frayne Olson, crops economist/marketing specialist at North Dakota State University.

1 week ago | agupdate.com | Mark Conlon

The March 31 Prospective Plantings Report from USDA wasn’t too exciting to the soybean market as soybean acres are expected to be lower this year compared to a year ago, and now another looming trade war with one of the bigger buyers of U.S. soybeans is bringing additional concern to the market.

1 week ago | agupdate.com | Mark Conlon

Despite President Trump announcing several tariffs against many of the U.S.’s trading partners and a USDA report indicating there will be fewer durum acres planted in the U.S. in 2025, the durum market and prices have remained pretty stable. Cash bids have pretty much stayed in the same range for the past several weeks at about $6.75 to $7 per bushel.

1 week ago | agupdate.com | Mark Conlon

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its Prospective Plantings Report on March 31, but one week after the report, the sunflower market was still talking about the numbers, which indicated a large increase in sunflower acres for 2025.

2 weeks ago | agupdate.com | Mark Conlon

As with a lot of the commodity markets, the wheat market is still seeing some pretty volatile price trends caused in large part by the uncertainty over recently announced tariffs by the Trump administration. “The main factor is still the uncertainty over tariffs. Even though we do have some clarity on the specific plan, the uncertainty is still of what retaliation we might see from key customer markets,” said Jim Peterson, market director for the North Dakota Wheat Commission. “That’s one factor.