Farmer

From Cornburning

I feel like this chapter should be titled "Hunting and Tracking the Elusive Farmer". It is a daunting thing for a city person to head out into the countryside drive into someone's yard and inquire about buying something. There is no need for this feeling. Because a farm, though it is also a residence, is also a business. Just like the corner grocery, a farmer is in the business of selling produce. There are several ways to find a farmer to buy corn from. In order, the best ways are as follows.

Ask Around - your neighbors may have family on a farm or know someone who lives on a farm. This also includes posting message in the forum section of this site. Let us know about where you live, and, who knows, maybe someone will respond who lives just around the corner. Finding a farmer in this manner is the best because you get an automatic introduction. And, farmers know other farmers. So, even if your first introduction isn't your corn source, always ask the farmer if they know someone who would sell off the farm. It is quite possible you can be directed to someone who does, and would be willing to sell off the farm to a friend of a friend.

Take a drive in the country - Look for silver grain bins and fields of corn (or Other grains). You will have to drive into their driveways and introduce yourself.

Be prepared to chat a bit, the weather is a good place to start out your conversation. But be aware; farmers are always negative on the weather. It is almost always either too hot, too dry, too cold, too wet or any combination of these and others. A good time to catch farmers at home is over noon hour. Make sure you tell them you don't mean to interrupt their meal.

At the same time, remember, farmers are busy people too. If they seem short with you, it isn't a good time. ...Or, they think you are the jehovahs witness. Get straight to the point.

Buy some coffee - If the above fail and you live in the Midwest, stop into any small town early in the morning. Somewhere in that town there will be a cafe that serves coffee. It will have pickup trucks in various stages of decrepitness parked around it. Go in, everyone will turn and look at you as you walk in the door, this is a sign you are in the right place. If there is a large table that appears to be a community table, with a few guys sitting around it and some open spots, ask to sit down. Offer to fill anyone's coffee cups before you do. Introduce yourself and say you are looking to meet a corn farmer.

Once you do finally track down a farmer who is willing to talk, what you are asking for is to buy a small quantity of corn. Explain you have a corn burning stove you use to heat your house. It is universal all farmers like to hear about someone who is one of their products in a non-conventional way.

It is important you explain you need dry corn. Let them know it must be below 14%. Some stoves want it even dryer. Check your book. If the farmer is fairly close to your home, it is not at all out of line to ask to buy a bushel of the corn you would be buying to burn as a test. Doing so could save you a lot of trouble if the corn turns out being not as dry as the farmer thought it was.

Most farmers are pretty honest and can give you a very good guess as to how much corn they have dumped into your trailer or wagon. Generally, they will never short you, and it is much more likely any error in quantity will come out in your favor. If you want, to be more exact than this, most small town grain elevators have a scale you can drive across. The way this works, you drive across the scale before you visit the farmer. Record the empty weight. Then, go pickup your corn. Weigh at the elevator again now you are full. Record the full weight. Subtract the empty weight. Now you know how much corn you have on.

Even if you think it a pretty big deal to be buying corn. Or, even if you are going to be taking a whole pickup load. Or, even if you are going to be filling a bin that will hold enough corn to a house for a whole heating season. It is still a drop in the bucket to the scale of modern farmers. Take another look at the pictures of the grain bins above. Compare them to the corn you want to buy. Chances are most farmers spill more corn during the harvest than you are going to buy.

So, to that end, remember, the farmer is doing you a favor to sell you corn. It's not the other way around. Ask the price. Know the current market price for the area. Either accept the farmer's price or thank him for his time, get back in your car and drive on down the road. There is always another farmer a little further down the road. A friendly departure makes it easier just in case you can't find anyone cheaper and have to come crawling back.

One thing to remember when talking price is that many farmers sell thier corn on futures markets. This means that they may have corn sold for next year that has not been planted yet for a much higher price than todays price. So don't be offended if they don't want to sell at the cash price they are just Trying to make a profit on the corn they raise

Contract	Last	Open	High	Low	Change	Settle	Updated	Notes
Dec'06- QBC Z6	3520	3512	3534	3502	4	3514	11/17 - 05:57
Mar'07 - QBC H7	3664	3654	3680	3646	4	3660	11/17 - 05:57
May'07- QBC K7	3720	3710	3734	3702	6	3712	11/17 - 05:55
Jul'07 - QBC N7	3740	3730	3750	3722	10	3730	11/17 - 04:37
Sep'07 - QBC U7	3576	3562	3580	3562	10	3566	11/17 - 01:14
Dec'07 - QBC Z7	3436	3414	3440	3404	20	3416	11/17 - 05:51
Jul'07 - QBC N7	3740	3730	3750	3722	10	3730	11/17 - 04:37
Dec'07 - QBC Z7	3436	3414	3440	3404	20	3416	11/17 - 05:51
Mar'08 - QBC H8	3486	3470	3486	3470	6	3480	11/16 - 21:06
May'08 - QBC K8	-	-	-	-	-	3514	11/16 - 13:52
Jul'08 - QBC N8	3560	3560	3560	3560	-2	3562	11/16 - 19:50
Sep'08 - QBC U8	-	-	-	-	-	3414	11/16 - 13:52
Dec'08 - QBC Z8	3240	3220	3240	3214	16	3222	11/17 - 04:51
Jul'09 - QBC N9	-	-	-	-	-	3270	11/16 - 13:52
Dec'09 - QBC Z9	3200	3200	3200	3200	-4	3204	11/16 - 19:45	In this case corn deliverd in July 2007 is $.22 higher than December 2006
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