He who has the gold makes the rules - that's the golden rule some live by. This year that may be the lucky few who have excellent hay, decent corn, and good soybeans. Many people won't have and will be hoping those who have them are following another golden rule: Do to others as you would have them do unto you.
That doesn't mean price gouging. Hay could be the hardest to keep a lid on since there is not a set price or grading system followed for hay. It's pretty much limited only by what someone will pay for it.
Kelly Burger of Brookville, a 4-H and FFA member, exhibited some of the most desirable alfalfa hay I've ever seen, cut and cured correctly, at her local fair. It was an easy pick for champion even though there were many other good hay samples out of the 30 4-H members that exhibited hay at the Franklin County fair.
Kiddingly, I offered her $10 per bale for it. Her mom wanted let her bite. Mom says they only have 300 bales of it- that's the rub, quality is up but quantity is way down, and they have a dairy, so they can put high quality hay to good use.
One hay producer told us he made hay on 80 acres of second cutting and only got 400 bales. Why did he bale it, we wondered. "Because it's 400 bales I didn't have before," he answered. Hay will be scarce and definitely like gold this winter.
Corn and soybeans may be the same way. More and more farmers are realizing that without adequate rain soon, widespread rain of a couple inches or more, not just scattered thunderstorms, they may not harvest much corn this fall. And if it doesn't rain soon, they may not harvest too many soybeans either. This year still has a ways to go, but all three commodities will likely be in short supply and high in price after 2012.