A mostly higher start is indicated this am, 3-4 corn and beans, steady wheat. The $ is a shade lower but not enough currently to impact the grains very much. There isn't a lot of fresh market moving news this am.

Some traders are concerned about the record snowpack in much of the Midwest, especially the northwest quarter of the region. Spring is already forecast to be cool and wet and when the snowpack melts, flooding could be relatively widespread, especially in the northwest. This could delay spring planting, especially corn, which is planted before beans. This possibility is supportive for the corn market, especially the new crop (Dec) but bearish for beans, especially the new crop (Nov) as farmers will plant more beans this spring if wet fields cause corn planting delays.

At least one climatologist, Al Dutcher, state climatologist for Nebraska, is already warning about the possibility of spring flooding in the northwest quarter of the Midwest. On the other hand, we had a very wet spring last year, with planting delays as a result, and yet we still had a record corn yield and a huge crop. Also, it is still early and the weather could turn out to be fine by the time planting starts.

First notice day for March deliveries is Friday and traders are looking for roughly 3000-5000 contracts of wheat, 500-1000 corn, 0-300 beans, 0 meal and 3000-5000 oil.

Argentina was mostly dry the last 24 hours and more of the same is predicted the next 5 days, which will be welcome as it allows very wet fields to dry out. Brazil saw up to 1.5" of rain in parts of Rio Grande state in the south the last 24 hours with mostly dry weather in the rest of the country's grain areas. Light rain is predicted in Parana state today-tomorrow followed by mostly dry weather there Fri-Mon. Mato Grasso in northern Brazil, the largest bean producing state in the country, will see scattered rain tomorrow through Sunday, which isn't welcome as it could slow bean harvesting.