Many markets closed today for a May Day holiday, giving overnight trade a lackluster feel as grain prices were mostly steady to lower. USDA Monday confirmed very slow planting progress for corn and spring wheat, but mixed weather outlooks kept futures from feeling much impact. Rains moving across the northwest Corn Belt today should stall fieldwork later in the week, but the second week of the forecast turned drier.

Bryce Knorr first joined Farm Futures Magazine in 1987. In addition to analyzing and writing about the commodity markets, he is a former futures introducing broker and is a registered Commodity Trading Advisor. He conducts Farm Futures exclusive surveys on acreage, production and management issues and is one of the analysts regularly contracted by business wire services before major USDA crop reports. Besides the Morning Call on www.FarmFutures.com he writes weekly reviews for corn, soybeans, and wheat that include selling price targets, charts and seasonal trends. His other weekly reviews on basis, energy, fertilizer and financial markets and feature price forecasts for key crop inputs. A journalist with 38 years of experience, he received the Master Writers Award from the American Agricultural Editors Association.

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