Volatile Grain Prices Limit Co-op Buying

A highlyvolatile commodities marketcaused by Russia’s war against Ukraine has prompted some farmer cooperatives to suspend their cash bids to buy grain from producers, reports theIowa Capital Dispatch.

Landus Cooperative, Iowa's largest agriculture co-op, announced Friday it would cease its cash grain bids at 1 p.m. that day because of “increased market risk & volatility caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” according to a note on its website that has since been removed.

Landus resumed its normal grain bidding on Monday, said Mary Harrington, a spokesperson for the company.

“It’s not just Landus doing this,” Chad Hart, an economics professor at Iowa State University who specializes in crop markets, told theDispatch.

“In extreme situations like this, if they’re really worried about the risk, they’ll just pull the bid off for a day or two and then jump back in later when they feel the markets are more settled.”