Skip to main content

Put Some of Your Grain Marketing in the Hands of Experts

Let marketing experts price a portion of your production.
By Doug Roose, Director of ADM Producer Origination
Share:

You’ve just harvested your 2016 crops, and 2017 looms, with decisions on what to plant and production planning. You’re still working on selling this year’s crop, and on top of that, it’s tough to think about selling next year’s crop before it’s even in the ground. But as the CEO of your operation, you’re probably sketching out a budget anyway—and that brings up the inescapable: a grain-marketing plan.

Let’s face it. Objective decisions get harder, not easier, as the growing season progresses. That’s why ADM is enrolling current grain inventory and expected production in two grain contracts now: Average Seasonal Price (discussed last month) and ADM Advantage Expert.

It’s fine to enroll now and adjust final bushels before the January 27 deadline. Just getting some arrangements made can take the pressure off the holidays and spring gear-up time.

 

The Benefits of Advantage Expert:

Grain marketing is complex, and it’s the rare producer who can spend 24/7 watching the market. But an ADM Advantage Expert contract does this for you. You simply put a portion of your production (old and/or new) in the hands of experts, who will make the decisions to establish the futures reference price on your contract, during the pricing period that fits with your delivery needs.

You reserve ADM’s pricing experts to set the futures on a portion of your unsold grain.

Used consistently every year on the same percentage of your production, ADM Advantage Expert gives you:

  • Experience: With decades in commodities trading and risk management, our pricing experts can spare you some worry and free you up to focus on production.
  • Discipline: You want a level head in charge of your grain, with decisions based on market analysis and insight, not emotions. That’s what our pricing experts bring.

 

Strong Credentials, Different Approaches

Just who are the pricing experts with the Advantage Expert contract? You have three pricing experts to choose from:

  1. Crow Trading, Inc. – Richard Crow is a registered Commodities Trading Advisor, an independent broker with the National Futures Association, and holds a doctoral degree in agricultural economics. With 30 years of experience in price risk management, his firm has advised our Advantage Expert contract for over 10 years.
  2. Stewart Management and Consulting, Inc. – John Stewart started his 40-year career as a grain merchandiser. He has leveraged technology to develop a detailed cash and futures database along with proprietary methods to forecast supply and demand. John has been an advisor to the ADM Advantage Expert contract for more than 10 years.
  3. ADM Experts – This group of senior traders and managers from across the ADM network have direct knowledge of markets and ADM’s own risk management practices. Using their global collective insights, they form opinions, and execute on that bias accordingly for the bushels enrolled in the ADM Advantage Expert contract.

There’s more detail about these experts on ADMAdvantage.com. What’s nice is that you can diversify by choosing any or all three experts to manage portions of your contract. This spreads your risk and provides comparative benchmarks for grain sales you make on your own.

 

How It Works

Using an ADM Advantage Expert contract is straightforward:contract graphic

  • Choose the crop and number of bushels you need to sell, when you want to deliver, and a pricing expert from our team to make pricing decisions for your contract.
  • The pricing expert advises ADM to price futures on your contract; and we establish the final futures reference price based solely on those pricing decisions at the end of the pricing period.
  • Along the way, you have the right to price out part or all of your contract early based on the current price out value (value of the contract if it were 100% priced ‘today’). Talk to your local merchandiser for more details.
  • Prior to grain delivery, you set the basis. That’s it.
  • The final cash price is the ADM Advantage Expert’s respective futures reference price, plus or minus basis, less the service fee.

You can track your performance weekly with an update email from ADM, and the early price out option allows you to take back control if you want to. Ask your ADM merchandiser for details, and visit admadvantage.com for performance histories on the ADM Advantage Expert contract.

SaveSave

SaveSave

ADM is providing this communication for informational purposes, and it is not a solicitation or offer to purchase or sell commodities. The recommendations in this communication do not take into account any particular individual’s or company’s objectives or needs, which should be considered before engaging in any commodity transactions based on these recommendations. The sources for the information and recommendations in this communication are believed to be reliable, but ADM does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of the information or recommendations. ADM or its affiliates may hold or take positions for their own accounts that are different from the positions recommended in this communication. The information and recommendations in this communication are subject to change without notice.