Marketing year change
The wheat, oats and barley marketing years begin June 1. The canola and flaxseed marketing years begin July 1. The cotton, peanuts and rice marketing years begin August 1. The corn, grain sorghum and soybean marketing years begin September 1. The soybean meal and soybean oil marketing years begin October 1.
Even on September 1, new crop corn, sorghum and soybeans are the crops to be harvested the next calendar year, the crops not even planted yet. Old crop corn, sorghum and soybeans are the crops in the field to be harvested in the nearby autumn.
Likewise, it’s June 1 for wheat, August 1 for cotton and October 1 for soybean meal and oil.
Avoid misunderstandings
Practical application of these terms is different from the textbook application. In September, farmers and merchandisers are thinking new crop is the crop being harvested and it will stay new crop in their minds until either:
Harvest is over and the crop is in the bin (I think most people look at it this way), or
The old crop basis and the new crop basis are the same, which occurs early in the harvest period.
When a farmer and a merchandiser are talking about “new crop marketing,” one of them needs to make sure both are talking about the same crop. Every year there are misunderstandings and sometimes the misunderstanding costs thousands of dollars.
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