03/27/26 Afternoon CommStock Report- Traders Brace for the Weekend, Await Tuesday Crop Reports

Spring storms swept through parts of the Midwest on Thursday evening to bring wind and hail but also helpful doses of moisture. Drought otherwise persisted across much of the country where the rain outlook remained limited through the two-week forecast. It is that time of the year when we are thinking about weather’s influence on spring acreage decisions, which goes with having the prospective plantings report coming up on Tuesday next week. Weather is the top factor that can spark change from those planting intentions estimates significantly, like for last year’s jump from 95.3 million prospective corn acres in March to 98.8 million estimated presently.   Aside from talk about the weather, client conversations have been addressing how fertilizer costs are going to have an enhanced impact on planting decisions this season, with even just marginal localized fertilizer effects against corn plantings potentially adding up materially on a national level. Price spreads remain the other planting decision factor along with crop insurance comparisons. New-crop corn and soybean futures are both up from a year ago with the soybean-to-corn ratio up just slightly from where the fall contracts were trading at this time last year, after soybeans lost a bigger edge…