Collected Publications for Bruce Sherrick • farmdoc daily

Updated Probabilities for Corn and Soybean Harvest Prices for 2018

August 15, 2018
Bruce Sherrick

The purpose of this farmdoc daily post is to evaluate the market’s current implied price distribution for fall-time corn and soybean prices, and assess the implication for possible levels of…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Will Soybean Crop Insurance Payments in 2018 Offset Low Prices?

July 17, 2018
Gary Schnitkey, Bruce Sherrick, and Jonathan Coppess

Trade disputes have roiled commodity markets and created substantial uncertainty about the impact on agricultural exports, especially to China. China’s response to the Administration’s proposed tariffs included tariffs on U.S.…

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Illinois Farmland Values in Context

March 30, 2018
Bruce Sherrick and Gary Schnitkey

Each year, the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers collects representative sales data from all across the state of Illinois, divided into 10 regions based on prominent…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Cash Rents on Professionally Managed Farmland in 2018 and 2019

March 27, 2018
Gary Schnitkey and Bruce Sherrick

The Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers recently released their estimates of 2018 cash rents as well as their expectations for 2019 cash rents. Cash rent levels…

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Crop Insurance Decisions for 2018

March 1, 2018
Bruce Sherrick and Gary Schnitkey

The price discovery period used to determine projected prices and volatility factors for federally sponsored corn and soybean crop insurance products for 2018 is completed. For the majority of the…

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Implied Probabilities for Corn and Soybeans Prices in 2018

February 20, 2018
Bruce Sherrick and Gary Schnitkey

As crop insurance and crop planting decisions are being made for the 2018 crop year, it is useful to assess possible springtime and harvest pricing information, and understand the impact…

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Updated Farmland Values and Indexing Tools – 2017

August 11, 2017
Bruce J. Sherrick

Each year, the USDA provides extensive data related to farmland values, rental rates, and other indicators of economic performance by county, state, type of agriculture and other meaningful categorizations of…

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Crop Insurance Decisions for 2017

February 28, 2017
Bruce Sherrick and Gary Schnitkey

The price discovery period used to determined projected prices and volatility factors for federally sponsored corn and soybean crop insurance products for 2017 is nearly completed. For the majority of…

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Implied Probabilities for Corn and Soybeans Prices in 2017

February 21, 2017
Bruce Sherrick and Gary Schnitkey

As crop insurance and crop planting decisions are being made for the 2017 crop year, it is useful to assess possible indemnity, marketing, and harvest price information. Average futures settlement…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Crop Insurance Premiums for 2017

February 7, 2017
Gary Schnitkey and Bruce Sherrick

Many producers are seriously evaluating their crop insurance budgets and coverage options in light of changing prices and premiums. Crop insurance premiums are determined each year based largely on several…

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Implied Probabilities for Corn and Soybeans Prices for 2016

July 28, 2016
Bruce Sherrick

The purpose of this post is to introduce a new tool available at the farmdoc crop insurance evaluation site that helps to understand the market's implied price distribution at any…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Crop Insurance Decisions for 2016

March 1, 2016
Bruce Sherrick and Gary Schnitkey

The Risk Management Agency (RMA) has now concluded its price discovery period used to determined final prices and volatility factors for federally sponsored corn and soybean crop insurance products for…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Release of iFarm Premium Calculator and iFarm Payment Evaluator

February 2, 2016
Gary Schnitkey, Bruce Sherrick, and Scott Irwin

Two new web-based decision tools are now available in the crop insurance section of farmdoc. The ifarm Premium Calculator provides farmer-paid premiums for insurance products on a per acre basis.…

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Components of Cropland Value in the Cornbelt

January 29, 2016
Christopher Seifert and Bruce Sherrick

Farmland markets have received a great deal of attention as farm income has come under pressure due to lower and more volatile commodity prices, and as recent actions by the…

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Weekly Farm Economics

2016 Farmland Price Outlook

October 20, 2015
Gary Schnitkey, Bruce Sherrick and Todd Kuethe

Farmland prices in Illinois decreased modestly during the first half of 2015, and it appears that downward pressures are likely to continue into 2016. While headwinds related to farm income…

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Updated Expected Price Distributions for Corn and Soybeans in 2015

August 20, 2015
Bruce Sherrick

At the end of February, RMA established Projected Prices for crop insurance contract for corn of $4.15 and for soybeans of $9.73 for insured production in 2015. The Projected Prices…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Crop Insurance Decisions for 2015

March 3, 2015
Bruce Sherrick

The Risk Management Agency (RMA) has now concluded its price discovery period used to determined final prices and volatility factors for federally sponsored corn and soybean crop insurance products for…

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Understanding the Implied Volatility (IV) Factor in Crop Insurance

February 27, 2015
Bruce Sherrick

Each year, RMA resets the Projected Prices (PP) and Implied Volatility Factors (IV) that are used in the determination of crop insurance guarantee levels and premium costs. For much of…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Yield Exclusion: Description and Guidance

January 13, 2015
Gary Schnitkey, Bruce Sherrick, and Jonathan Coppess

The Yield Exclusion (YE) allows specific years to be dropped from the calculation of guarantee yields for crop insurance. This option is available because of provisions contained in the 2014…

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IFES 2014: Do Risk Management Decisions Change?

January 7, 2015
Bruce Sherrick and Gary Schnitkey

The 2014 Farm Bill gives farmers the opportunity to enroll farms in commodity programs that have a "risk management" emphasis. Given this emphasis, should farmers alter other risk management such…

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A Closer Look at the Impacts of Olympic Averaging of Prices and Yields

November 21, 2014
Bruce Sherrick

Several provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill depend critically on revenue thresholds calculated from the product of the Olympic average of 5-year trailing national marketing year average prices, and the…

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Evaluating the Actual Production History Yield Exclusion Provision of the 2014 Farm Bill

September 5, 2014
Jonathan Coppess, Bruce Sherrick, and Gary Schnitkey

A recent hearing before the House Agriculture Committee and subsequent press reports have raised the profile of a crop insurance provision in the 2014 Farm Bill. That provision requires USDA…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Farmland Price Outlook in 2014 and Beyond

August 19, 2014
Gary Schnitkey, Todd Kuethe and Bruce Sherrick

Recent commodity price declines have led to increasing concerns that farmland prices could decline as a result of potential decreases in income to farmland. Corn prices, for example, have decreased…

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Updated Farmland Values and Returns Tools – 2014

August 15, 2014
Bruce J. Sherrick

Each year, the USDA provides extensive data related to farmland values, rental rates, and other indicators of economic performance by county, state, type of agriculture and other meaningful categorizations of…

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Updated Expected Price Distributions for Corn and Soybeans in 2014

August 1, 2014
Bruce Sherrick

Crop price expectations have generally trended downward throughout the growing season as conditions have been very favorable for large production of corn and soybeans. Futures price expectations and eventual realizations…

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