The price risks in the corn market
Corn is the biggest grain crop in the United States, and its price can move fifty cents a bushel in a matter of weeks on a weather scare, a USDA report, or a shift in ethanol and export demand. On the CBOT, one corn contract is 5,000 bushels, and the December contract is the benchmark for new-crop pricing. A grower's seed, fertilizer, chemical, and land costs are largely fixed by planting time; revenue is not. That gap is the risk.
Growers are not the only ones exposed. Country elevators carry bushels between buying and selling, feedlots and livestock feeders buy corn all year, and ethanol plants and processors watch their input cost move daily. Each side of that market needs the opposite hedge.
How a forward-contract hedge works
The core hedge for a producer is a forward sale: a fixed price agreed today for delivery in a defined window after harvest. CCS's Scale-In program builds that coverage in stages - pricing a portion of expected production at one level, then adding coverage at higher levels as the season develops - rather than selling the whole crop on one day's price.
Because these are forward contracts, not exchange-traded futures, there are no margin calls and no daily settlement. A rally after you price does not trigger a demand for cash. The terms - bushels, delivery period, and basis arrangements - are fitted to your operation and your delivery schedule, and unhedged bushels keep their full upside if the market moves higher.
What CCS does in practice
Work starts with a strategy review: your cost of production, storage situation, cash-flow needs, and how much price risk you can comfortably carry. From there, CCS helps set realistic pricing targets and delivery dates, then works the program through the growing season as opportunities appear.
CCS also selectively advises storing corn when the basis is weak and the market carry - the premium of later delivery months over nearby ones - pays you to hold grain. Storing is a merchandising decision, not a speculation, when the carry covers your costs. That judgment comes from 40-plus years of watching corn basis and carries in the eastern corn belt.
The honest risks
A forward contract is a delivery obligation. If drought or flood cuts your production, you may have to buy bushels or settle the shortfall at market prices. You are also relying on the counterparty to perform, which is a real consideration in any forward agreement.
And a hedge that fixes a price also removes the benefit if prices move in your favor: if corn rallies sharply after you price, those bushels stay priced. Futures and forward contracting involve risk of loss. The goal of a hedge is a dependable margin over your costs, not the top of the market.