View from the Cab: Volatile March continues

By Kent Casson

Typically, everyone in the farming community is looking ahead to planted acreage and highly-anticipated USDA reports this time of year to see what type of market influence occurs.

This year markets have much more to watch than simply what USDA says as we have all kinds of news happening around the world that tends to be unpredictable leading to volatility. The war in Iran has been in the spotlight during the past few weeks as it has led to increased crude oil prices which did ease a bit last week.

It all comes down to a place called the Strait of Hormuz where shipping has been impacted and this has had an effect on energy markets. Uncertainty remains not only for fuel prices but fertilizer as well, since fertilizer moves through that area. Soybeans and corn markets have been on a roller coaster ride much like the crude oil market has since the war started.

Last Tuesday’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, or WASDE, was quiet with few changes. The U.S. corn balance sheet was left unchanged by USDA and soybeans were revised slightly upward for crushing and imports. The season average price for wheat was bumped about five cents.

A change in production estimates from South America was probably the biggest news from the early March report. The Argentine corn crop was lowered along with that country’s soybean crop. The corn crop estimate for Brazil was increased.  

The bigger report is due out later in the month, March 31, when we get news on prospective plantings and USDA’s quarterly grain stocks. USDA is looking for almost a four-million-acre switch to soybeans from corn.

How about those severe storms last week? All of the forecasters were warning us days in advance of potentially dangerous tornadoes and they occurred not far to our north in Kankakee County. Our thoughts and prayers are with storms victims in that area. We were fortunate to miss those really strong winds and tornadoes here in Central Illinois.

The wild storms are a wake-up call to be storm ready in our state at all times. I have a feeling it could be a crazy year of weather and planting hasn’t even started. Buckle up for what could be a wild ride here in 2026.