Wild Oats Grain Market Advisory
A market is a process of price discovery. You want to know the most
buyers will pay. Buyers want to know the least that will persuade
farmers to put adequate supplies on the market.
In any market, including our grain markets, those with the most information
will do better, over time. Maybe the lucky will hit it right now and
then, and have something to boast about. But those who methodically
accumulate information will always tend to do better, as they deserve.
An easier, less expensive way to get real information
If I offered you an opportunity to drive 50 miles once a week to buy
coffee and listen to two experts with different sources of true information
about the market, you would be wise to take me up on this offer. It
would cost you 100 miles of driving expenses [maybe $30], plus a buck
for the coffee, and three hours of your time which is an important
expense. But it could pay off.
I have a much better offer:
- same two experts, with different sources of information about grain
and oilseed markets
- weekly updates
- and the cost is only $4 a week, plus less of your time -- maybe half
an hour per week and you don’t have to interrupt combining.
Big saving. Same value. [Oh yes, your coffee at home costs maybe only
25 cents a cup.]
The two experts are Jonathon Driedger, a grain and oilseed analyst with Farmlink Marketing Solutions in Winnipeg, and John Duvenaud in the Winnipeg area with a
different set of market contacts.
Our offer is for the market newsletter Wild Oats.
How good is the information?
Examine a recent issue so you can see for yourself.
It’s organized so you can find what you need fast, and understand what you’re getting.
- The front page gives you the biggest news items, in brief. Short
articles. The headlines tell you which ones concern crops you grow.
- The next page starts with Jonathon Driedger’s latest and best information.
He writes this Tuesday afternoon, after the markets close. Most of
our subscribers look it over Tuesday evening. Jonathon Driedger goes out
on a limb and advises selling or holding each crop, and makes sure
you understand why his advice is that way.
Also on page 2, John Duvenaud’s Winnipeg-based analysis, specializing
in peas, lentils, mustards and canary seed - special crops with fundamentals
all their own. Likewise, he doesn’t just give you a lot of words about
trends, but sticks his neck out with specific advice.
- On page 3, the futures and options you need to make your own decisions.
We don’t assume, by the way, that all our readers use futures, and
we make sure our advice can be used without them.
At the bottom of the page, a chart shows Wild Oats cumulative selling
recommendations to date. In past years, farmers who have moved on
Wild Oats calls have done a lot better on average than farmers who
operate without good information.
- On the final page of each regular issue are the latest buying prices
for grains, oilseeds and special crops. Prices vary across the Prairies,
so we compile Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba reports.
Page 4 also gives you a few comments picked
up on the trading floor of the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange.
It’s all valuable information. You might get it yourself by spending
enough time on the phone. It’s easier and less expensive to get it
with a subscription to Wild Oats.
Mail. Fax. Satellite. Internet.
How do you want to receive Wild Oats?
The faster the better perhaps? Here are the options, with prices that
vary according to our costs:
Mail subscriptions are $195 a year. There are 40 issues, mailed first
class in a business envelope.
Fax subscriptions are $295 a year. Faxes arrive about suppertime on
Tuesdays, and we publish a one page fax supplement on the weeks we
don’t publish a regular issue.
Internet subscriptions are $195 a year. You get all the regular issues,
plus the supplements, same day, but because distribution by Internet
costs us almost nothing compared to fax, we take $100 off.
Satellite subscriptions are also $195 a year. You get all the mail
and fax issues, but since you already have the futures and some market
reports and commentary, we don’t charge for that part of our service.
40 reports a year
Most grain, oilseed and special crop market moves are slow and gradual,
reflecting crop development and the pace of usage. It's true that
markets sometimes make big, sudden moves, but usually these happen
so fast that even floor traders on the futures exchanges can’t profit.
Too much information can be confusing. Daily price moves are often
just noise in the market. Wild Oats is timed to keep you up to date
on the big picture, without flooding you with details.
You can manage better
Already you probably have pretty good programs to keep your expenses
under control. You likely know how to push yields and produce quality.
The better you are at farming, the more you need to be an informed
marketer.
If you have only a few thousand bushels to sell every year, I can
see that you wouldn’t want to spend even twenty minutes a week adding
to your information about what the markets are doing. But as soon
as your production mounts to a substantial figure, the payoff from
even a small improvement in your marketing results can be major. Serious
money.
With Wild Oats you’ll watch for signals to speed up or slow down sales,
or to shift seeded acres between crops. Sometimes even a small piece
of information can make difference between a profit and a loss.
You can never tell when favourable selling opportunities will arise.
It may be in the middle of a period that’s been dull. If you know
about it, sometimes you can move a lot of crop at a good price.
When you decide to make a sale, you’ll have the numbers you need to
start dealing. Don't ever let buyers know more than you do.
You can keep informed with Wild Oats for just $4 and 20 minutes a
week.
Winning at the markets is a cumulative process. Every win builds your
financial strength. Better yet, you carry that win into your next
marketing decision.
How to do the best with your production
Subscribe to Wild Oats.
Read Wild Oats even if you have another information service, and it’s
good. You can’t have too many viewpoints on the markets.
It’s easy. Just complete and submit an order form or phone
us at 1-800-567-5671 or 1-204-942-1459. Choose how you’ll take it. We'll start your subscription the day we hear from you.
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