The worked example
50,000 bushels of corn come out of the field at 18% moisture. Selling at harvest pays $3.85, with 3 points to dry to 15% at 4 cents a point. Storing costs 3 cents a bushel a month, bin loss is 0.1% a month, handling shrink is 0.25% each time grain moves, and money costs 7.5% a year.
Selling at harvest nets $179,242 on 48,115 delivered bushels. The later prices, against that:
| Later price | Cash price | Break-even | Beats selling now by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec | $4.00 | $3.96 | $1,698 |
| Mar | $4.22 | $4.14 | $3,951 |
| Jul | $4.45 | $4.37 | $3,836 |
The July bid has the highest price but nets slightly less than March: four more months of interest and storage cost more than the extra 23 cents earns. The March bid wins. This is the shape of most storage decisions, and the reason to compare nets rather than prices.
Common questions
Should I sell my corn at harvest or store it?
Compare what you net today against what you net at a later price after every cost of waiting: drying, shrink, storage, interest on the money you do not receive, and quality loss in the bin. Storing wins only when the later price beats the break-even price this tool computes, not merely when it is higher than the harvest price.
How much does water shrink cost when drying corn?
Corn dried from 20% to 15% moisture loses (20 - 15) / (100 - 15) = 5.88% of its weight, about 1.18% per point. Drying also costs fuel and electricity, commonly around 3 to 5 cents per bushel per point. Enter your own rate.
What is the break-even price for storing grain?
It is the later cash price at which storing and selling at harvest net the same money. Take what you would clear selling today, add drying, storage and interest costs, and divide by the bushels you will actually have left to sell. Any later price above it makes storage profitable.