Corn and Soybeans Go Hand in Hand
Posted: January 24, 2008
A headline in Barron’s this week says “Soybeans Bow to King Corn,” and notes that because of the energy bill’s increase in ethanol “it now looks as though the oilseed may spend another year riding in the back seat” when it comes to acreage.
Corn and soybeans are like two sides of the same coin - yin and yang, as it were. Like love and marriage, as the old song says, you can’t have one without the other. Farmers grow both and competition between the two is more important to the futures markets than to the farmers. Well, also to the commodity groups - since soybean has a mandatory national checkoff while corn subsists on state level checkoffs that are sometimes voluntary.
That’s why it was inevitable that someday the twain should meet when the corn and soybean grower groups finally decided a few years ago to join forces and have one single annual meeting instead of two and the “Commodity Classic” was born. Last year, wheat was added to the mix and now there are three amigos.
Classic is coming up soon - February 28 through March 1 in Nashville. Make plans to attend if you haven’t already and celebrate the good times. Registration and other information is available on-line here.