The grain merchandisers podcast where Roger and Jason capture the big topics and challenges of the grain industry with humor, pragmatism, and simplicity. With a few decades of combined experience in the basis trading, brokerage, and farm marketing spheres, they use their experiences and knowledge of their area of the grain business to shed some light on what they can, and debunk some myths and exaggerations that exist in the grain industry.
Episodes
Thursday Oct 31, 2024
Basis Decay!?
Thursday Oct 31, 2024
Thursday Oct 31, 2024
The guys are back delving the Zeitgeists on all the latest bad basis takes. We discuss how basis may not actually have destroyed the country's infrastructure, how "trading like an elevator" may not be as glamorous as people think but still worthwhile, and what the heck is basis theft and basis fraud anyways.
If you'd like to hear how Christopher Columbus and CRT are related to basis trading, this is a good episode for you.
Wednesday Sep 11, 2024
2024 Harvest Time Companion Part 2
Wednesday Sep 11, 2024
Wednesday Sep 11, 2024
We are back with Part 2 for your harvest time listening pleasure. This time, with Special Guest, Susan Stroud of No Bull Ag (NO BULL (nobullag.com)). We delve into the Corn Sweat Zeitgeist, of course, but still have time to tackle the big topics of the 2024 fall harvest: rolling basis contracts, proactive selling to capture big carries, what's a "good price" and how does it change throughout the year?, logistics of a big crop, harvest marketing alternatives, and what's all this carbon intensity stuff mean?
Tuesday Sep 03, 2024
2024 Harvest Time Companion Part 1
Tuesday Sep 03, 2024
Tuesday Sep 03, 2024
It's that time again for some audio to help pass the long hours of harvest. The guys have a special guest, Michael Kaeb from IL, to share stories and have some fun talking about the more entertaining side of the grain business. From Chemtrails to damaged equipment to bathroom subscription services, we once again dare to delve where other podcasts refuse to.
0:00 Intro
3:10 Special Guest Introduction
9:05 Conspiracies -- Chemtrails/Flat Earth/ Corn Sweat/ Wildfires
18:00 Grain Truck Drivers -- Demographics/ Business Ideas/ Unfortunate Stories
37:40 Hired Hands at the Farm and Season Help at the Elevator
Thursday Aug 08, 2024
The Fundamentals Cut
Thursday Aug 08, 2024
Thursday Aug 08, 2024
Do the fundamentals even matter anymore? Are the Spec Shorts covering their Longs? Why is this crop so big and prices so low? Mostly, what should we do now that nothing is sold and prices are worse? Finally, how should elevators be approaching the coming logistical crunch and capturing the value they should? As usual, the guys delve into these topics and have all the answers.
Wednesday May 29, 2024
Re-Owning Hedges
Wednesday May 29, 2024
Wednesday May 29, 2024
Help! I HTA'd myself and I don't know what to do!
Join us as we delve into the mysterious world of re-owning hedges and other recent agtwitter shenanigans.
Wednesday May 08, 2024
The CEO Mindset in the Grain Business
Wednesday May 08, 2024
Wednesday May 08, 2024
The guys chat with Phil Luce about his ascension from spreadsheet guy to Spreadsheet CEO. What should we get out of charts? How did you learn the business? Can we have raises? All the important questions asked or implied. And of course, how should we interpret Cicadian Rythyms?
Tuesday Feb 20, 2024
Spreaders Anonymous
Tuesday Feb 20, 2024
Tuesday Feb 20, 2024
An Elite Peer Group of geographically diverse grain merchants join the show to share about their love for the grain business as well as their struggles and how they help each other through it all. Join us for a lively chat with Jake Lund from Wisconsin, Ben Nething from Ohio, and Michael Mock from Pennsylvania.
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
Who Charted?
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
When is a random line more than just a random line? When somebody tells you it's important to look at, that's when! Join us as we delve into the obscure world of technical terms and tag along on our jaunt down the path of the psychology behind the contract names.
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
2023 Fall Harvest Recap
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
Basis Rolls, Fees, Huge spreads, and changes in selling patterns. We saw a lot of interesting developments with this crop, so we delve into how it all intertwined to create a zeitgeist stew of merchandising opportunities for the coming year.
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
DP and Dogman
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Do you believe in conspiracy theories? Does Bigfoot have a cousin? Can Elevators charge double digit monthly DP fees? Grab your trench coat and listen to find out as the guys delve into the inner workings of elevator bids and fees, farmer marketing behaviors, and a little known mythical figure of the West Arkansas Ozarks.
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Harvest Time Companion Episode
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
An extended version of our normal podcast to help keep you company during the long hours of harvest. We mix in grain talk with a lot of our own personal preferences, stories, and strange perspectives from the universe. Timestamps of topics below.
0:00:35 - What is this episode?
0:04:30 - Convenience Store Food Options
0:21:43 - Gas Station Bathrooms
0:24:40 - Farm Marketing Discussion on Choices vs Decisions
0:37:25 - PowerPoint Presetations
0:43:43 - Brokers
0:57:57 - Bankers/Interest costs in the Grain Biz/ Spread Structures
1:05:02 - Cashless Society Conspiracy Talk
1:09:58 - Floor Traders/ Algos/ GMD (Farmer) Conspiracy Theories
1:16:48 - Flat Earthers
1:21:44 - Ufology/ Aliens
1:33:00 - Restaurant Food
1:55:01 - Food Stories of Mr. White
2:02:50 - Travel Hacks and Hotel Thoughts
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
PreHarvest PepTalk
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
The guys discuss their ideas on the upcoming crop merchandising year and touch on the secret to unmitigated success (probably) for the basis trader.
Thursday Jul 27, 2023
Summer of Spreadz
Thursday Jul 27, 2023
Thursday Jul 27, 2023
What do spreads and summer have in common? They both start with “S”, duh. In this episode the guys get back to the business of grain merchandising and delve into what the ongoing shift in corn spreads spells for the basis trader. (hint: it rhymes with “hairy”)
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
The Co-op’s Cut with Scott Hardy
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
What makes Cooperatives great? What makes them struggle? We chat with retired Co-Op Veteran, Scott Hardy, to discuss all he has seen over the years with Boards, GMs, Mergers, Patronage, and more. Some high quality insight for anyone that interacts with a Co-Op with some entertaining and informative stories mixed in.
Tuesday Jun 27, 2023
Blackberry Storytime with Grain Veteran Scott Hardy
Tuesday Jun 27, 2023
Tuesday Jun 27, 2023
Lovingly and famously known as "The July 1st Story," friend of the show and grain industry mentor to many, Scott Hardy, shares his harrowing tale from his days on the road visiting grain elevators. Over his 40 years of creating, observing, and retelling the stories, this one may top them all. From transportation challenges to food reactions to medical emergencies to Jamaican Ukeleles, this one has it all.
Tuesday May 23, 2023
What Does It Even Mean?
Tuesday May 23, 2023
Tuesday May 23, 2023
Having exhausted this month's supply of market quips, the guys discuss the sayings of the grain biz that may or may not have any bearing on reality.
Thursday May 11, 2023
What Game are you Playing?
Thursday May 11, 2023
Thursday May 11, 2023
Roger recently listened to an insightful podcast which of course is a foreign concept to us, so Roger shared some of the big concepts from it and the guys discuss how these insights apply to our business. As a credit to Arkansas Public Schools, Jason learns what aphorism means and Roger learns what Zimbabwe is.
Thursday May 04, 2023
Psychology of a Merchandiser
Thursday May 04, 2023
Thursday May 04, 2023
The guys are back from hiatus with a lively discussion on how merchandisers are coping with the current basis and spread environment and how that is affecting their plans for the next season. What should we be doing now? How should we be approaching the coming crop year?
We also announce our first ever shipment of Elevator's Cut T-shirts (sized M, L, XL) and what you can do to get one for yourself.
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Capturing the Farmer’s Attention
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
We delve into the farmer-elevator relationship from the perspective of the farmer with Kansas farmer, Adam Baldwin. What communication is the farmer looking for, what gets their attention, and how do they like to interact with their grain buyers?
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Master Management Cut
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
The guys delve into the pressing challenges, opportunities, and ideas from the largest annual conference of exclusively basis traders in history. Some great concepts on managing your business and how we see it applied in the grain industry. They discuss a possible monumental shift in preferred snacks of the show as well as new podcast swag in the works.
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
2023 Opening Cut
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
What do GMD, Free DP, and Runza all have in common? This episode. Join us as we talk through it all and memorialize our 100,000th download.
Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Trucker’s Cut
Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
The guys chat up Jared Flinn of Bulkloads.com and discuss the finer points of elevator/trucker relationships.
Thursday Dec 08, 2022
Live from CEC
Thursday Dec 08, 2022
Thursday Dec 08, 2022
The guys were invited on stage at the NGFA's annual Country Elevator Conference in St. Louis. This episode is a live recording of the panel they hosted about the upcoming merchandising and financial challenges that this crop year holds. We chat with bankers and merchants about how best to approach the year.
Thursday Dec 01, 2022
Spreadmageddon
Thursday Dec 01, 2022
Thursday Dec 01, 2022
The guys delve into some of the aspects of what separates the haves and have-nots among merchandisers during years with flat/inverted market structures.
Monday Nov 21, 2022
6 Degrees of Dan Mehochko
Monday Nov 21, 2022
Monday Nov 21, 2022
Known to many as the nicest guy in the grain business, Dan shares his wealth of experience with us in this episode. He shares some stories from his decades in the commercial grain business and tells us about the importance of building and maintaining relationships throughout his career. Dan also fills us in on what the heck a data scientist is and how they will help our industry grow into the future.
Thursday Nov 17, 2022
Potent Potables and Wild Basis Tales
Thursday Nov 17, 2022
Thursday Nov 17, 2022
The guys are back with some news! Big upcoming event details. Then we psychoanalyze some of the things we say in the grain business and why. Finally, we finish on some of the exciting basis trading stories from this harvest given the historic basis volatility.
Monday Oct 03, 2022
The River’s Cut
Monday Oct 03, 2022
Monday Oct 03, 2022
The guys have a discussion with Susan David of No Bull (@SusanNOBULL) on the recent disruption in the barge freight market. What's causing it? How will it be resolved? Who is benefitting? And what does it all mean to the rest of us? She gives us a great breakdown of what is going on.
Wednesday Sep 07, 2022
Basis Trading Through Inverses with Phil Luce
Wednesday Sep 07, 2022
Wednesday Sep 07, 2022
The guys chat with White Commercial CEO and Basis Guru, Phil Luce, about managing basis, spreads, and expectations in these crazy times.
Tuesday Aug 23, 2022
Opening Call’s Cut
Tuesday Aug 23, 2022
Tuesday Aug 23, 2022
In this episode the guys speculate about what they’re delve into on the episode just before they record the episode.... and are immediately proved wrong.
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
The British Cut
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
The guys connect via transoceanic technology to our friend and fellow elevator advocate across the pond, Dan Murphy, aka @GrainPirateDan, in the grain growing East Midlands region of England. Dan shares both the differences and similarities of the grain elevator business from his perspective, and we try to come to grips with a few cultural differences. So pour yourself a pint (just not of Stella) and enjoy!
Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
The Specialty Cut
Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
The guys chat with Kellee James, CEO and Founder of Mercaris, to delve into the mysterious realm of specialty grains. If $42/bushel soybeans doesn’t grab your attention, we don’t know what will! Shout out to cauliflower rice for not sponsoring this episode.
Tuesday May 17, 2022
Fees Up, Basis Down
Tuesday May 17, 2022
Tuesday May 17, 2022
The guys tackle springtime basis in light of inversions, and discuss what an elevator’s fee structure signals to farmers. Just remember kids, keep your eye on the ball, be you a merchant or a farmer… just understand which ball you really should be looking at. Also, pringles are great.
Tuesday Apr 05, 2022
The 2022 Demand Market Cut
Tuesday Apr 05, 2022
Tuesday Apr 05, 2022
As we look forward to a summer of diminishing grain stocks with big inversions and a new crop year of little to no carry in the spreads, how the heck is anyone going to make any money and what should grain merchants be doing now to prepare? Also, how should farmers be approaching their marketing in this environment? The guys walk through the situation and outline the opportunities.
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
The Limit’s Cut
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
After some wild times following war news, the guys discuss why things happened the way they did in the cash market during days of locked limit up futures markets in Chicago. Why did people shift their bids to different months? Why were some not bidding at all? How should a farmer look at all of it? Was it all a cash grab for a big "elevator's cut" or were buyers just trying not to lose money?
Thursday Mar 03, 2022
Tuesday Dec 28, 2021
Festivus Cut
Tuesday Dec 28, 2021
Tuesday Dec 28, 2021
It's a Festivus Miracle! The guys are back with another episode. In this one we air our grievances about "knowing the markets," having a bunch of screens, and why people look at risk the opposite of the way Merriam Webster does. We also catch you up on some of our latest conferences and what's on our schedule for 2022. Hope to see y'all out there this year!
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
Random Thoughts from the Summer, Released in the Winter
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
The guys discuss the latest ways to #winbasis from last summer.
Step 1: Volatility
Step 2: Derivatives
Step 3: ???
Step 4: #WinBasis
Thursday Nov 04, 2021
GMD Cut Volume 2
Thursday Nov 04, 2021
Thursday Nov 04, 2021
Once again, the guys welcome guest cohost and fellow GMD connoisseur, Susan David, to the show to do some analysis of the infamous Facebook page known on AgTwitter simply as GMD. We discuss some of our favorite posts and delve into the comment sections. Some good discussion on why people bid vs. different months, spreads, and how basis is used by grain buyers.
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
GMD Cut Volume 1
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
The guys welcome guest cohost and fellow GMD connoisseur, Susan David, to the show to do some analysis of the infamous Facebook page known on AgTwitter simply as GMD. We discuss some of our favorite posts, delve into the comment sections, and hopefully bring somewhat of a counter argument to the anti-merchandiser, anti-elevator mentality that pops up from time to time.
Tuesday Sep 28, 2021
Canada‘s Cut
Tuesday Sep 28, 2021
Tuesday Sep 28, 2021
For this episode, we cross international lines to talk with the (in)famous Pete Archer from Maizieing Acres in Ontario. Pete tells us his personal story as a grain farmer and eventual commercial grain elevator and gives us great insight on how basis trading actually works when trading across borders and currencies.
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
Harvest is Transitory
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
The guys delve into the reality that bushels will likely be hunting for space this year, and what that means for the value of space amid the sad-trombone spread structure currently in place (hint: don’t pay too much for the basis!) They also get into the nitty gritty of the real cost of running a grain elevator and how your policies can help (or hurt) your ability to cover those costs. As always, the anecdotes are free for our valued listeners.
Tuesday Aug 24, 2021
Academia's Cut
Tuesday Aug 24, 2021
Tuesday Aug 24, 2021
We are joined by University of Arkansas Professor, Dr. Mckenzie, to discuss the grain business and how he has been able to bridge the gap between academia and pragmatic cash grain trading through his career. He also shares with us his perspective about what qualities young people are looking for in an employer as they begin their careers (and it's not what you might think). Finally, we discuss his very intriguing work on the psychology of farm marketing.
Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
Chicago's Cut
Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
We sit down with Fred Seamon, Executive Director of Commodity Research and Product Development at CME Group, to discuss all the buzz and consternation around the corners of the internet for the agricultural world. Of course, we also delve into the zeitgeist of this season. Fred sets us straight on how the commercial side is affected by HFT, algos, convergence, and more. And he does it all in a clear and simple way that even a couple guys from Arkansas can understand.
Tuesday May 11, 2021
Banker’s Cut 2021 Rally Edition
Tuesday May 11, 2021
Tuesday May 11, 2021
Long time friend of the show Jeff Reardon spends some time with us going over how the financial side of the business is handling this big rally year. He also tells us how commercial grain business margins are faring this year based on his unique analysis and metrics.
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
Widening Your Horizons (or is it narrowing?)
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
Ashley Bettenhausen (@TheFarmWifey) joins the guys all the way from up north to share her trials and triumphs as a female grain originator from a non-ag background. And of course, she sets the record straight on just exactly how proper spread terminology do.
Wednesday Feb 24, 2021
Interview with Chad Felderhoff
Wednesday Feb 24, 2021
Wednesday Feb 24, 2021
What does grain merchandising, family business transition, and dog food have in common? More than you might think. Join the guys as Chad takes us down his professional pathway and sheds some light on that ol grain business chestnut, "its different around here."
(Spoiler Alert: it ain't)
Wednesday Feb 03, 2021
Surviving Prosperity; Why Rallies are Terrible
Wednesday Feb 03, 2021
Wednesday Feb 03, 2021
It seems like all people in the grain business want is a rally, but why are so many people miserable right now? Your humble hosts delve into the zeitgeist of the big grain rally and discuss what's so difficult about it for the farmer and the commercial. Clear your schedule for half an hour and enjoy this episode nearly dubbed "The China Cut"
Tuesday Jan 19, 2021
There's An App For That
Tuesday Jan 19, 2021
Tuesday Jan 19, 2021
The guys chat with CEO/Co-Founder of Bushel Jake Joraanstad, and Chief Market Officer Camille Grade to discuss the way technology is improving the grain business. We hear about the story of this Fargo based Ag-Tech firm and what they are doing to make the grain elevator and farmer relationship more transparent and streamlined. We also discuss what's out there on the horizon for technology advancements in the years to come.
Thursday Nov 19, 2020
Make Spreadz Great Again
Thursday Nov 19, 2020
Thursday Nov 19, 2020
2020 has been the most unique year we’ve had in a while, and spreadz are not immune to this year’s wonkiness. While we haven’t seen this type of spread action in the grain biz in a few moons, they are not unheard of and in fact, once understood, flat & inverted markets can provide the astute merchandiser with both profit and fun. Probably.
Thursday Nov 12, 2020
The Disruptor’s Cut: An interview with Rodney Connor of Indigo
Thursday Nov 12, 2020
Thursday Nov 12, 2020
Rodney Connor of Indigo Ag fields all the tough questions about how Indigo interacts with the grain business. As a former grain merchant in Northern IL, he acknowledges the company's past mistakes and explains their perspective moving forward and shifts they are making to try and be a valuable cog in the supply chain.