corn sold ahead

How does it work for people that have already sold their corn, and now might not be able to raise enough to cover their contracts? We sold some millet one year about 3 weeks before harvest. It did not have an "act of God" clause in the contract, so we had to actually deliver the grain to the elevator. Not sure what would have happened if we couldn't produce the crop. I didn't rest easy until the contrat was filled. Had way less contracted than we raised, but nevertheless, a hailstorm or a couple rains after it was swathed down and we could have lost the entire crop. I know the "experts" are always telling producers not to sell their entire crop, maybe only 1/2 of what they expect or maybe 3/4 of what they expect. I understand there are places that won't raise 1/10th of what they expected to raise at planting time. And now with the upturn in the market, are these producers going to be in trouble? I remember several years ago, reading an article about a big operator selling his corn crop several years ahead. Wonder how that worked?

Was the big operator in Illinois? Went bankrupt about a year ago, in _good_ crop & price conditions... Claimed he sold his crop 4 times over to make the most profit.

Anyhow, depends on whom you sell to, and what thjey want.

Ultimately you need to deliver the grain.

However, if it's a coop they may allow you to roll the contract into next year, for a few cents a bu.

Or, you might be able to buy out of the contract, for the price difference plus a few cents.

If you contracted to a feed mill or other end user, they might pretty much demand you bring in the crop for somewhere - they aren't buying and selling a crop to make money, they _need_ the crop.

So it will depend on who you are contracting with, how soon you discuss any problems with them, and so on. If the coop has delivery contracts of their own, and you don't say anything until the time is up and they have trains waiting to be filled; then the coop might not be so easy on you either. If you talkred to them early on, and they have time to find other grain to ship, they probably will work with you.

No one will want to contract with you again if you try to back out of a contract you had, to sell your grain for a higher price. That don't fly.

--->Paul

Basically, you will be paying the difference between your delivery month contracted price and current price for that delivery month.

Heard that a guy contracted 150 bu per acre and has paid 60K to get out of some contracts. He still may need to come up with more....

always works in the favor of the one you contracted to around here ,if you didn't make enough to fill your agreement and the current price is less than contract price all is forgiven,on the other hand if you come up short and the current price is higher than the contract price then you will be expected to pay the difference between the two on the remaining bushels left on the contract