The latest issue of Feedcast is brought to you by Chris Davidson, with a tale of weather woe. 

Over the course of the last week the markets, especially the cereals market, have risen exponentially.

For cereals this is due to three major weather events. Firstly the US has seen drought from extreme heat and consequently 20% of the bean and corn crop are now in drought. Secondly, we have seen large areas of flooding in Europe and this has raised questions on the size and quality of the crop. Finally Russia has begun to harvest its crop and yields are a lot lower than expected in areas that were expecting to be the best. 

Mid- proteins are seeing a similar story, with rape prices reacting to the soya prices, flooding in Europe plus issues with the canola crop in Canada. Canada is the largest exporter of rape seed so a tightening here has impacted the UK prices.

Soya has been the quietest over the last fortnight. This is due to soya having a later harvest than corn, so should the rain fall, it may have time to recover despite the existing drought. 

In these markets it’s very risky to have no cover. Be clear on what you need and the budget you can afford as in these conditions that price can move away from you very quickly.