Preparing for Harvest & 2020 Harvest Policies

Harvest is just about here! Thankfully, it is expected to be much different than our last one. Last year we dealt with poor planting, growing and harvest conditions. Then, we had to find a place for all the beans as a result of a trade war.  Now after nearly two years of China avoiding the purchase of U.S. commodities, they have been purchasing bushels nearly every day. That has brought a recent welcome rally to commodity prices. The government data, if correct, is telling us to expect one of our best crops in recent years - a welcomed change for all of us for sure. We do expect some areas to struggle some with space as this crop gets harvested.  United Cooperative’s member-owned network has 70 million bushels of space coupled with some of the best receiving and conditioning equipment in the state. This allows your cooperative to get our members’ crop handled effectively. 

2020 United Cooperative Harvest Policies
United Cooperative is staying with the changes we made last year to our storage fee structure. As a reminder, we no longer have a minimum storage fee for commodities. Each load will have a 7-day grace period and then will be assessed a daily rate that is approximately 5¢ a month for all commodities in both storage and/or grain bank.

Grain delivered will be applied to contracts first. Grain balances above contract amounts have the following choices for application:

  • Spot or cash: The bushels designated will be sold at market close or at a price set during the CBOT-day session. Contact a buyer if you wish to have your grain spotted upon delivery.
  • 7-day hold: Allows the customer to hold the grain for 7 days without incurring storage fees. Storage fees will begin after 7 days. Grain that is not contracted or sold during this period will be placed in storage.
  • Storage: Grain designated for storage will be assessed the applicable storage fees.
  • Grain bank: Grain applied to grain bank is used for feed purposes with applicable fees.

All stored corn must be 14% moisture or less, otherwise it will be dried to 14%. The drying and shrink schedules are available at the receiving locations.

  • Dry to 15% if forward contracted or sold within 7 days of delivery.
  • Dry to 14% for Price Later, Grain Bank and Storage with additional drying charges and 1.4% shrink.

There is a 7-day grace period per load before the producer has to decide if they want to sell or store.

United Cooperative offers several options for marketing grain. Outlined below are the contracts offered and the fees and procedures pertaining to each contract.

  • Forward cash contract: Bushels are priced for future delivery. No fees are charged for this contract.
  • Basis contract: Bushels are sold with only the basis established. The futures price is set at a later date. The contract may be rolled once within the same crop year. The fee for the roll is 3¢ per bushel.
  • Hedged to arrive: The futures price is established on the contract. The basis is established at or prior to delivery. The futures may be rolled to futures month within the same crop year only.
    The fee to establish the contract is 5¢ per bushel.
    The fee to roll to a different futures month is 3¢ per bushel.
  • Minimum price contract: A cash-forward contract is priced and a call option is purchased to allow the customer to participate in futures price increases prior to the option expiring. The fees include the cost of the option.
  • Stewart Peterson Managed Contracts: Bushels are professionally managed by Stewart-Peterson, with the futures price to be determined over various time periods (stored crop, 1-year new crop, and 2-year new crop). The basis is set by the producer at any time prior to, or automatically at delivery.

When you enter a United Cooperative facility, please have your tarps opened before proceeding to the scale or probe. Additionally, please inform your drivers as to which account the load should be applied and for which application method. Before you leave United Cooperative, please review the ticket and if something is not correct, bring it to our attention immediately.

Help in tracking your business transactions with United Cooperative is available through eAgvantage, which can be found on our web site. This can be accessed at the customer login in the upper right-hand corner of our home page. First-time users are instructed on how to submit for access to the site. The site allows you to view account activity for your operation including grain, agronomy, feed, and energy transactions. Text message bids are available from United Cooperative, if you haven’t signed up to receive our bids, talk to your United Cooperative location or call with your questions regarding these useful tools.

United Cooperative continues to accept varieties of corn and soybeans that are approved for all export channels. If you have a variety that’s not approved, please contact us, so we may assist you in directing those bushels to the proper channel.

Remember, safety first!
United Cooperative is always reviewing and adding to our facilities to ensure that our employees and customers are safe. Our employees go through extensive training to ensure facilities are operated with safety as the top priority, so everyone gets home safely each day. Thank you for your business. We wish you a safe and prosperous harvest season.

-Alan Jentz, Vice President - Grain

Posted on Sep 25 at 08:12