Welcome to North Dakota

Here’s a story from the past week that reflects on the wild ride of the past twelve months. Last winter, at the height of wheat prices, a North Dakota elevator manager offered to pay a local wheat producer over $20 per bushel, for a bin full of spring wheat he knew was on the farm. The farmer considered the offer and politely declined.

Months later, when grain prices retrenched well beneath the $10 mark, the manager saw the same producer, with the same wheat still in storage. The elevator manager said, “The last time we talked was a meeting of two fools. I was a fool for offering you so much money for your wheat, and you were a fool for turning me down.”