The Hedged Edge

In this episode of The Hedged Edge, hosts Jeff Eizenberg and Ben Hetzel dive deep into the heart of agricultural markets with special guest Fred Seamon from CME Group. As harvest challenges mount with record-breaking rainfall across the Midwest, the conversation spans centuries of market innovation—from the early days of Chicago's grain trade to cutting-edge futures contracts. Fred shares fasc...

Dive into the complex world of agricultural markets with Jeff Eizenberg and Ben Hetzel as they explore current corn and soybean pricing trends, harvest dynamics, and the global fertilizer landscape. Special guest Jon Berglund from Prairie Land AG provides expert insights into international supply chains, trade challenges, and the factors driving fertilizer prices. Learn about the intricate relatio...

In this episode of The Hedged Edge podcast, hosts Jeff Eizenberg and Ben Hetzel discuss the current harvest season with guests Lacy Schatz from LJS Insurance Agency and Dwayne Bowman from Dakota Western Bank. They provide insights into harvest conditions across different regions, highlighting challenges like frost and dry weather. Lacey shares updates on crop insurance, including new program benef...

Join Jeff Eizenberg and Ben Hetzel as they dive deep into the complex world of agricultural markets, consumer spending, and the surprising economics of convenience. In this eye-opening episode, they challenge the narrative of high food prices by exploring the booming delivery service industry and questioning whether consumers are truly feeling the pinch. From DoorDash delivery fees to wheat market...

This episode of "The Hedged Edge" explores the critical challenges facing US grain exports, focusing on wheat quality and Mexico's market dynamics. Hosts Jeff Eizenberg and Ben Hetzel, joined by David Munoz from Bartlett Grain, discuss the USDA report, global grain trade complexities, and the potential risks of losing Mexico as a key buyer due toinconsistent wheat quality. The episod...

Cattle markets are at multi-decade highs, and producers are facing both incredible opportunities and serious risks. In this first radio edition of The Hedged Edge , hosts Jeff Eizenberg and Ben Hetzel dig into the realities of managing cattle riskwhen prices are running hot. Joining the conversation are Dwayne Bowman , President of Dakota Western Bank, and Joe McKitrick , a North Dakota rancher, w...

As we start 2023 – the stakes could not be higher for the agriculture sector! The world population is growing rapidly, crossing 8 Billion in November of last year. Due to the historic drought and war, there are lower stocks of the major grain supplies globally.   Energy and interest rates have accelerated rapidly vs. this time last year, leading to higher input costs and raising the break-eve...

With every new year, there are new opportunities, and there's no better time to dive deeply into the stock market and tax-saving strategies for 2023 than now. In our latest episode of the Hedged Edge, we're joined by Tim Webb, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner from our sister company, RCM Wealth Advisors. Tim is no stranger to advising institutions and agribusinesses where he has been...

With the world population just crossing 8 Billion in November 2022, the details of what it takes to feed the world today and the question of what it will take to feed the world 30 years from now when the population is expected to approach 10 Billion is mind-blowing to many. Today’s guest, Russel Taylor, is an expert on the science behind bringing additional agriculture yield to life through soil h...

The Hedged Edge is back online with a guest who could be this podcast's most important guest of all time. At a time when inflation is running rampant through the world economy, drought conditions are drying up our rivers, and the global supply of grain is scarce. We are tasked with the question, "what the hell is going on in logistics, and is there any relief in sight?" To help address these quest...

There is an agriculture tug of war happening across the nation, impacting America's farmland. Fertilizer prices are continuously fluctuating, and it has us taking a page from "The Clash"  should we stay or should we go?!  And, we aren't the only ones. Many farmers are asking their agronomist and chemical salespeople, "What will fertilizer cost me the rest of the season, and what are my o...

RCM Ag Services is putting a unique spin on National Agriculture Day by going international. That's right, we're jumping right into international waters with Maria Dorsett from USDA's Foreign Agriculture Services for an interesting discussion about linking U.S. agriculture to the rest of the world. Each year, March 22 represents a special day to increase public awareness of the U.S.'s agricultural...

A special guest joins us for this episode of The Hedged Edge, who is well known for his many titles, which include Doctor, Editor-in-Chief, Dean, and Chief Academic Officer, just to name a few. Dr. Channa S. Prakash, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Tuskegee University, has served as faculty since 1989 and is a professor of crop genetics, biotechnology, and genomics. He is also we...

The 2021 U.S. grain crop has the potential to be one of the largest on record. Where did all the yield come from, what areas were the hardest hit, and why on God's green earth are grain prices still so high? Today, we are joined by several RCM Ag Services grain markets experts from around the country to catch up on a post-harvest update and share an outlook for production and marketing in each of...

For the past year, commodity prices have perpetually soared and continue to trend higher. We're diving into the fertilizer forecast with a unique guest, Billy Dale Strader, a branch manager for Helena Agri-Enterprises in Russellville, KY., who is truly at the epicenter of the rising fertilizer prices. Billy Dale planted his agriculture roots on his family-owned farm and has managed regional seed a...

The Hedged Edge is back, and we're jumping into the thick of the commodity markets with RCM’s own King of Cotton – Ron Lawson. Cotton prices have exploded since the COVID crash, rising more than 236% from the March 2020 lows. While prices have backed off from the October 8th high, cotton is one of the purest supply + demand-driven markets around the world and has caught fire along with the global...

It is no secret that commodity markets have been on fire over the past 12 months.  On today’s podcast we’ve brought on one of our real-life firefighters from RCM Ag – Jody Lawrence along with Tim Andriesen from the CME Group to provide us with some inside baseball knowledge of the current state of the agriculture markets and to discuss the real-world application of the use of short-dated opti...

Agronomy is one of the most important facets of agriculture since farming began. Everyone from the farmer to the producer to the elevator depends on the success of agronomist and their advice to the American Farmer – and we’re lucky to have one of the top agronomists in the industry with us on The Hedged Edge today. Greg Willoughby is a 20-year industry veteran, and currently the Technical Service...

How can lumber prices shoot up nearly 300% in one year? Does it all come down to the Corona-push to homebuying, supply chain issues, environmental swings, all of the above or none of it at all? We wanted to dig into all these questions and more with a lumber veteran to get the nitty gritty explanations on why everyone is talking about lumber. Today we’re joined by Kyle Little a 4thgeneration lumbe...

If you’ve taken an ag econ class, been in the industry on the producer or investor side, or just have a general interest in the ag space, there’s a good chance that you’ve come across Mastering the Grain Markets by Elaine Kub. It’s the perfect intro to understanding ways that could help you make money trading grain, and we’re lucky to be joined by the author herself to talk about her books, design...

The USDA came out with a bullish report???!!!! It’s fair to say that many in the industry (us included) were left speechless. We know that 2020 was a crazy ride for commodities, but it looks like we may be in for an even WILDER ride on the opposite end for 2021. To discuss this bullish report, we’re joined by our two favorite RCM Ag Services Cotton and Grain experts to discuss how this recent repo...

In part II of our 2021 Outlook, we’re joined by RCM Ag Services’ Meat experts Kevin Bost and Tom Chavez to talk about the meat markets in the year to come. Check out Part I here Don't forget to subscribe to The Hedged Edge on your preferred platform, and follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook. Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upo...

2020 was a notably difficult year for commodities – oil went negative, coronavirus halted trade and decreased demand, and overall turmoil in the markets sent investors fleeing. Though the first quarter was rough, commodities did their best to rally in the last three quarters of the year and did so as well as they could. So, what of 2021? Are we going to see major rallies in the grain markets with...

In this monthly segment on The Hedged Edge, RCM Ag Services pros Jody Lawrence, Ron Lawson, Kevin Bost, and host Jeff Eizenberg come together to provide expert knowledge on important markets including cotton, meat, and grains following the USDA Report. And last but not least, don't forget to subscribe to The Hedged Edge on your preferred platform, and follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook...

For the commodity world, 2020 has been particularly interesting. Between stimulus packages and China buying pullback, to ramping up production and setting up for a potential big comeback in 2021 it feels like we’ve been living through a game of ping pong. So to review it all – plus give some insight into 2021 – we’ve brought Dr. Scott Irwin on to go through it all. Dr. Scott Irwin is chair of the...