File photo of vessels on the Mississippi River south of New Orleans on Nov. 5, 2017. (Dave Bedard photo)

Low water on Mississippi to persist despite improved drought outlook

Risk of getting stuck mean less grain per barge

Chicago | Reuters — Low water levels on the lower Mississippi River are likely to persist through at least January despite expected above-normal precipitation across the southern U.S. this winter, forecasters with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Thursday. The severe to exceptional drought choking the lower Mississippi River valley is expected to

Detail from the front of the CBOT building in Chicago. (Vito Palmisano/iStock/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: Corn rangebound, soybeans rising, wheat erratic

Chicago wheat fluctuation 'just drives you nuts'

MarketsFarm — While soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade have moved higher over the past week, corn was rangebound and wheat lacked any clear direction in choppy trade, making it hard to predict where values may go from here, according to Scott Capinegro of Barrington Commodities in Barrington, Ill. Capinegro said the December

File photo of vessels on the Mississippi River south of New Orleans on Nov. 5, 2017. (Dave Bedard photo)

Shallow Mississippi River expected to persist as dry winter hits U.S. South

River levels at historic lows this fall

Reuters — Low water levels on the Mississippi River are likely to persist this winter as drier-than-normal weather is expected across the southern U.S. and Gulf Coast, U.S. government forecasters said on Thursday. Drought, which currently spans 59 per cent of the country, is expected to continue or worsen in the middle and lower Mississippi


File photo of the Hernando de Soto Bridge as viewed from the Mud Island River Park at Memphis. (Akrassel/iStock/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: Ukraine talks, low Mississippi River pressure prices

Outside forces pile on seasonal harvest pressures

MarketsFarm — Ongoing harvests for corn, wheat and soybeans in the U.S. and a strong U.S. greenback are putting pressure on markets in the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). However, other factors have caused prices to come down during the week ended Tuesday. While the war in Ukraine continues to rage on, negotiations persist between





Some bulk shipments, including fertilizer, are on hold until flooding on the Mississippi River subsides.

Stalled shipments latest blow to U.S. farmers

Transportation woes are the latest headache in a sector plagued by slumping profits

Farm supplier CHS has dozens of barges, loaded with fertilizer, trapped on the flood-swollen Mississippi River near St. Louis — about 500 miles from the company’s two Minnesota distribution hubs. The barges can’t move — or get crucial nutrients to corn farmers for the spring planting season — because river locks on the main U.S.