Here is the conclusion to the Marketing transitional grains story:
Jay decided to “go all in” in the spring of 2017, transitioning all of his acreage using the 50/50 corn/soybean rotation that he is locked into under the EQIP contract. “I’m tired of the split management,” says Jay. “I’m tired of having to manage differently, separate the crops for storage and spray some of the fields.” After the 2017 harvest, Jay will be free to adjust his rotation, and that is just what he plans to do. “I may plant more soybeans and will likely introduce cereal rye,” says Jay.
In the meantime, during the winter of 2017, Jay attended the Midwest’s largest organic trade convention. “None of the buyers were signing forward contracts for transitional or even organic corn,” says Jay. Jay also contacted a broker and was told something similar - no one was buying transitional or non-GMO corn on contract. “They told me to wait until summer and maybe something [a contract] would open up,” says Jay. “My other option is to wait until harvest to price my corn on the [conventional] cash market.”
Instead, Jay says he’s committed to “finding my own markets.” He’s been in touch with a local cooperative that offers transitional and organic feed mixes. Jay’s also in conversation with several local hog and turkey producers who purchase non-GMO feed. “I think the outlook is promising - I am hoping to build long-term relationships with local buyers who will take my transitional and organic crops at a premium.”
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Organic Transitions Program under award number 2013-51106-21005.
This project was also supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, National Organic Program under the Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) in the Midwest region.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.