For years, we have talked about markets and their behavior. We study supply and demand features. We discuss exports and trade policy. We analyze chart patterns and talk about technical influences. But there remains one element of the market seldom mentioned. There is a particular group of people often left out of the conversation – speculators.

The grain market began the month of April by processing the March 28 USDA Prospective Plantings and Quarterly Stocks reports. The reports caught many off-guard. Cumulatively, corn and soybean acres were estimated at 177 million acres, 3 million acres fewer than the 2017 season.

If you like old Westerns, then you are familiar with the popular scene where the heroine of the story is tied to the railroad tracks as a speeding locomotive races towards her peril. That scene aptly describes the scenario lingering in the dairy community.

The first quarter of 2017 could have been well described by Shakespeare when he penned the famous comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Prices raced higher into the opening days of the year, with thoughts of a production meltdown beginning to unfold in Europe and Oceania amid a growing movement to secure fat.

As one evaluates margins, the wild fluctuation in summer markets changed the outlook of many a dairyman. Stories of coming drought and the consequential lack of feed grains caused markets to climb substantially in the second quarter of the year. Corn prices rallied 85 cents from spring lows. Soybean meal shot up $150 per ton.

It is times such as these when statements such as “I should have …” or “If I only would have known that the market …” or “Next time I will make sure that I …” become prevalent in conversations surrounding the market or prices. They are statements of regret and lost opportunity.

You have all heard the expression “30,000-foot view.” Commentators often use this phrase when explaining something in a very broad sense. Recently, my wife and I decided to take our four daughters on their very first plane ride. The anticipation of the event was so thick in the days that led up to it that you could cut it with a knife.

Einstein was quoted as saying “In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.” We have spent several articles discussing the “how-to’s” and “what-for’s” of options as it pertains to hedging milk and feed in the futures and options arena.

Versatility and flexibility have become two of the greatest characteristics built into products in the 21st century. My wife has a watch that doesn’t just tell the time; it also counts her steps throughout the day.

Have you ever come across a word that means something different to almost everyone that you might ask to define it? Have you ever tried to get a definitive answer to a question that doesn’t have just one?