2011 New Crop Soybean Booking Prices (2/14/11 - 2/18/11)

Forward booking prices for 2011 crop beans did not experience the sharply lower movement of the cash market over the weekend prior to this past week. Over the past weekend, the forward market lost 13 cents to open at $13.51 on Monday. New crop bean prices moved lower through midweek before recovering all of its losses and more on Thursday. Trading dived sharply again on Friday to close out the week at $13.27, a 37 cent overall fall from the previous Friday closing price. West Memphis again posted the top daily price of the week with $13.80 on Thursday. Old Town/Elaine trailed by a single cent at $13.79, and Helena at $13.74 was the only other market that broke the $13.70 level during the week. The lowest price of the week was $12.89 at Wynne on Wednesday. All markets ended the week above the $13.00 level. The price margin between cash market old crop beans and new crop booking prices continued to decrease falling from 38 cents to 28 cents, a 10 cent shrink and the third straight week where the gap narrowed.

(Market average prices stated in this report are unweighted averages of the state markets surveyed by NASS. Price data was based on USDA LR GR111 Arkansas Daily Grain Reports.)


Provided by:
Bob Stark, Agricultural Economist
Southeast Research & Extension Center
University of Arkansas at Monticello
stark@uamont.edu - (870) 460-1091

2010 Crop Soybean Cash Market Prices (2/14/11 - 2/18/11)

The Arkansas cash soybean market moved lower over the weekend for the second straight week as it lost 13 cents and opened at $13.89. The market could never establish a clear trend for the week with losses of 35 and 37 cents on separate days and a 39 cent gain on another day. The market closed the week on a down trading day to post a Friday closing price of $13.55. The closing price represented an overall 47 cent loss from the previous Friday closing mark. High individual market daily average for the week was $14.15 at both West Memphis and Old Town/Elaine on Thursday. This top price was 46 cents under the high of the previous week. The lowest individual market daily average was found on Wednesday with $13.30 reported at both Jonesboro and Wheatley.


(Market average prices stated in this report are unweighted averages of the state markets surveyed by NASS. Price data was based on USDA LR GR111 Arkansas Daily Grain Reports.)


Provided by:
Bob Stark, Agricultural Economist
Southeast Research & Extension Center
University of Arkansas at Monticello
stark@uamont.edu - (870) 460-1091

Considering an Insecticide Seed Treatment?

Insecticide seed treatments (IST) have provided a positive return in the Mid-South in nearly 80% of research trials when compared to an untreated check (with a fungicide) according to multiple studies conducted over seven years by entomologists from the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, Louisiana State University, the University of Tennessee and Mississippi State University.

There may be several reasons for this but changes in production practices in recent years have changed the pest spectrum and made ISTs a very viable option for growers. Many growers are moving toward reduced tillage production practices which are more favorable for soil dwelling insects. Increasing costs of production along with the increasing value of soybeans add more pressure to growers and make it even more important to get the crop up to a good, healthy start. Soybeans grown under the early season soybean production system face the most stress. Often when growers plant in early-April or even late-March it can turn cold and wet making it a struggle for plants to survive. While these plants are stressed, pests can attack and cause damage to the developing plant.

With over 110 trials conducted in the Mid-South, we see an average yield increase of about 3.5 bu/A with ISTs. However, when evaluating early planted fields in these trials, average yields almost double to over 6 bu/A.

We have documented control of several pests including grape colaspis (lespedeza worm), thrips, grubs and threecornered alfalfa hoppers as well as suppression of bean leaf beetles. Another positive attribute to ISTs is an increase in plant stand and vigor, while not as consistent as the insect control, it is often observable and the more stressful the situation the more pronounced it can be seen.
ISTs are especially useful if you have had a history of pests in a field, have a lot of plant residue in the field at planting, have other stress factors associated with the field or if you’re concerned about weather.

Growers have several IST choices for 2011. Cruiser and Gaucho were the first products available and the ones we have the most data on, however, there are two new seed treatments which should provide similar attributes. These are the Inovate system and Acceleron. We encourage growers to price these seed treatments being careful to consider fungicide packages along with the IST component to get the best value. Based on this research data, ISTs can provide real value to growers.

Provided by:
Gus Lorenz, Extension Entomologist
University of Arkansas
Division of Agriculture
glorenz@uaex.edu - (501) 676-3124

2011 New Crop Soybean Booking Prices (2/7/11 - 2/11/11)

Forward booking prices for 2011 crop beans again saw a stronger movement than the cash market. Over the past weekend, the forward market lost only 3 cents to open at $13.52 on Monday (Figure 2). New crop beans price improved through midweek, reaching a high point of $13.84 on Wednesday. The new crop booking market then went down through the remainder of the week to close on Friday at $13.64, a 9 cent overall gain from the previous Friday closing price. West Memphis again posted the top daily price of the week with $14.03 on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Old Town/Elaine, at $14.02, and Helena at $14.00 were the only other markets that broke the $14.00 level during the week. The lowest price of the week was $13.26 at Wynne on Monday. The price margin between cash market old crop beans and new crop booking prices decreased sharply from 66 cents to 38 cents, a narrowing of 28 cents.

(Market average prices stated in this report are unweighted averages of the state markets surveyed by NASS. Price data was based on USDA LR GR111 Arkansas Daily Grain Reports.)

Provided by:

Bob Stark, Agricultural Economist

Southeast Research & Extension Center

University of Arkansas at Monticello

stark@uamont.edu - (870) 460-1091

2010 Crop Soybean Cash Market Prices (2/7/11 - 2/11/11)

The Arkansas cash soybean market lost 9 cents over the weekend and opened at $14.12 (Figure 1). The market showed strength early in the week, climbing steadily to a high of $14.38 on Wednesday, but then declined over the final two trading days. The Friday closing price was $14.02, an overall 19 cent fall from the previous Friday closing mark. Friday’s average price still represented the second straight weekly close above $14.00 since January 14. High individual market daily average for the week was $14.61 at both West Memphis and Old Town/Elaine on Wednesday. Helena reached $14.57 on the same day, the only other market to exceed $14.51 during the week. The lowest individual market daily average was found on Friday with $13.80 reported at both Jonesboro and Wheatley.

(Market average prices stated in this report are unweighted averages of the state markets surveyed by NASS. Price data was based on USDA LR GR111 Arkansas Daily Grain Reports.)

Provided by:
Bob Stark, Agricultural Economist
Southeast Research & Extension Center
University of Arkansas at Monticello
stark@uamont.edu - (870) 460-1091

2011 New Crop Soybean Booking Prices (1/31/11 - 2/4/11)

Forward booking prices for 2011 crop beans saw an even stronger movement than the cash market over the past weekend, gaining 22 cents to open at $13.30 on Monday (Figure 2). New crop beans also saw price improvements through midweek as they reached a high point of $13.61 on Wednesday. The new crop booking market then went stagnant through the remainder of the week before closing on Friday at $13.55, a 47 cent overall gain from the previous Friday closing price. West Memphis again posted the top daily price of the week with $13.81 on Wednesday. Old Town/Elaine was a single cent behind at $13.80 on the same day. The lowest price of the week was $13.01 at Wynne on Monday as all daily market quotes were above $13.00 and within an 80 cent interval. The price margin between cash market old crop beans and new crop booking prices decreased from 73 cents to 66 cents, a narrowing of 7 cents.

(Market average prices stated in this report are unweighted averages of the state markets surveyed by NASS. Price data was based on USDA LR GR111 Arkansas Daily Grain Reports.)

Provided by:
Bob Stark, Agricultural Economist
Southeast Research & Extension Center
University of Arkansas at Monticello
stark@uamont.edu - (870) 460-1091

2010 Crop Soybean Cash Market Prices (1/31/11 - 2/4/11)

After two straight weekends of price declines, the Arkansas cash soybean market had a turnaround by gaining 17 cents over the past weekend to open at $13.98 (Figure 1). The market continued its gains through midweek, reaching a high of $14.31 on Wednesday. Part of the price increase was given back over the final two trading days before closing at $14.21, an overall 40 cent gain from the previous Friday closing price. Friday’s average price represented the first weekly close since January 14 that was above $14.00. High individual market daily average for the week was $14.54 at both West Memphis and Old Town/Elaine on Wednesday. The lowest individual market daily average was found on Monday with $13.77 reported at both Jonesboro and Wheatley.

(Market average prices stated in this report are unweighted averages of the state markets surveyed by NASS. Price data was based on USDA LR GR111 Arkansas Daily Grain Reports.)

Provided by:

Bob Stark, Agricultural Economist

Southeast Research & Extension Center

University of Arkansas at Monticello

stark@uamont.edu - (870) 460-1091