One of our primary tenets over the last 40 years has been to offer a variety of risk management services, so that you can choose the right one (or two, or three) for you, rather than trying to shove everyone into one box. Not everyone likes futures and options. Not everyone wants to be limited to just forward cash contracts. Not everyone wants to follow the markets daily. So, in addition to offering 3 subscriptions levels, marketing advice for 2 distinct categories of marketer, our team of dedicated Grain Marketing Advisors, and our Commodity Brokers, we’re excited to announce that we now offer another way for producers and buyers alike to manage their risk.
We’ve just launched a partnership with StoneX Physical Commodities Group that will allow you to diversify your risk management strategies further, and we are able to do so through two distinct offerings.
Portfolio Pricing Program
No margin. No up-front fees.
From now through the end of December, we are allowing producers to enroll in managed pricing programs for 2026 corn and 2026 soybeans. Our goal is to employ the same measured marketing strategies we speak of in our seminars and commentary, while at the same time capitalizing on great marketing opportunities when we see them.
The Programs will employ a balanced portfolio approach to manage price risk. Upon deciding how many bushels you’d like to commit to each program, their futures pricing period will run from 1/14/2026 until 8/31/2026.
Specifically, the Portfolio Pricing Program will be managed as follows:
- 25% Flex Floor Averaging: This is effectively a put option strategy that prices bushels either at the floor we select, or at the futures expiration price, whichever is higher.
- 25% Seasonal Strength Averaging: Historically, May through July often offer the best pricing opportunities of the year. We will mechanically price 25% of the bushels over this time frame.
- 25% Enhanced Pricing: We have tools at our disposal that allow us price bushels above the current market price, much like selling a call option. Without the risk of margin calls, we will be able to establish and hold these positions.
- 25% Discretionary Pricing: This bucket will allow us to implement strategies that are consistent with our market outlook, and will mirror to some extent our recommendations in The Brock Report.
We feel that this balanced approach is the most effective way to minimize your price risk exposure, while maximizing the marketing opportunities we see throughout the next 8 months.
There is no minimum bushel quantity for enrollment. You do NOT need to be a client or subscriber. There is no risk of margin call and no upfront fee. The 10¢ fee for corn and 15¢ fee for the soybean program are deducted from your grain check after the grain is delivered to the elevator of your choice. This program has a signup deadline of Dec. 31.
Structured Products
In addition to launching the Portfolio Pricing Program, this StoneX partnership allows us to offer “Structured Products.” These are the accumulators, producer floors, min-max type of contracts many of you are familiar with. We can offer these at any time throughout the year. The fees for these will vary on the structure, duration, floors/ceilings, etc. But we promise the fees will be clearly communicated up front, so feel free to reach out to discuss these and just say you’re not interested if the fees seem too high.
From Brocks Program to Your Local Elevator
If you do put some of your production into either of the programs or products above, StoneX will work with your local Elevator of choice to assume the contract from them when pricing is concluded. During the onboarding process between now and the start of the pricing period, StoneX will make sure that one or more of the local elevators you list will in fact work with them, if they’re not already.
How to Enroll
- Complete this Intent to Enroll form.
- Complete the StoneX Onboarding Document.
- Then you will be sent a DocuSign from StoneX to confirm enrollment.
Our Team, Your Way
There is no “one size fits all” in grain marketing, and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.
- If you want to take one of our 3 subscription offerings and use that to guide you, we’re happy to offer that.
- If you want to work with an experienced commodity broker and use futures & options to complement your cash marketing, we’re happy to offer that.
- If you want to follow our marketing advice by the letter, or use it as a benchmark, we are happy to offer that.
- If you want to work with one of our Grain Marketing Professionals and only do forward cash contracting, we are happy to offer that.
As the year comes to a close, it is a great time to reflect on what is working well for you personally and for your farm professionally. Year-end reviews are not limited to managers and employees; we should all review ourselves to reflect on successes and failures and set goals for the coming year.
If one of your goals is to make changes to how you do your grain marketing, the team at Brock Associates has the experience, expertise and genuine interest in helping you make the changes you want to make. Our team is here to support yours. Feel free to call me directly at 414-540-2623 and we can talk about any or all of the above, and I’ll either work directly with you or connect you with one of our great team members.
