The Elevator's Cut Podcast

An Elite Peer Group of geographically diverse grain merchants join the show to share about their love for the grain business as well as their struggles and how they help each other through it all. Join us for a lively chat with Jake Lund from Wisconsin, Ben Nething from Ohio, and Michael Mock from Pennsylvania.

When is a random line more than just a random line? When somebody tells you it's important to look at, that's when! Join us as we delve into the obscure world of technical terms and tag along on our jaunt down the path of the psychology behind the contract names.

Basis Rolls, Fees, Huge spreads, and changes in selling patterns. We saw a lot of interesting developments with this crop, so we delve into how it all intertwined to create a zeitgeist stew of merchandising opportunities for the coming year.

Do you believe in conspiracy theories? Does Bigfoot have a cousin? Can Elevators charge double digit monthly DP fees? Grab your trench coat and listen to find out as the guys delve into the inner workings of elevator bids and fees, farmer marketing behaviors, and a little known mythical figure of the West Arkansas Ozarks.

An extended version of our normal podcast to help keep you company during the long hours of harvest. We mix in grain talk with a lot of our own personal preferences, stories, and strange perspectives from the universe. Timestamps of topics below. 0:00:35 - What is this episode? 0:04:30 - Convenience Store Food Options 0:21:43 - Gas Station Bathrooms 0:24:40 - Farm Marketing Discussion on Choices vs Decisions 0:37:25 - PowerPoint Presetations 0:43:43 - Brokers 0:57:57 - Bankers/Interest costs in the Grain Biz/ Spread Structures 1:05:02 - Cashless Society Conspiracy Talk 1:09:58 - Floor Traders/ Algos/ GMD (Farmer) Conspiracy Theories 1:16:48 - Flat Earthers 1:21:44 - Ufology/ Aliens 1:33:00 - Restaurant Food 1:55:01 - Food Stories of Mr. White 2:02:50 - Travel Hacks and Hotel Thoughts

The guys discuss their ideas on the upcoming crop merchandising year and touch on the secret to unmitigated success (probably) for the basis trader.

What do spreads and summer have in common? They both start with “S”, duh. In this episode the guys get back to the business of grain merchandising and delve into what the ongoing shift in corn spreads spells for the basis trader. (hint: it rhymes with “hairy”)

What makes Cooperatives great? What makes them struggle? We chat with retired Co-Op Veteran, Scott Hardy, to discuss all he has seen over the years with Boards, GMs, Mergers, Patronage, and more. Some high quality insight for anyone that interacts with a Co-Op with some entertaining and informative stories mixed in.

Lovingly and famously known as "The July 1st Story," friend of the show and grain industry mentor to many, Scott Hardy, shares his harrowing tale from his days on the road visiting grain elevators. Over his 40 years of creating, observing, and retelling the stories, this one may top them all. From transportation challenges to food reactions to medical emergencies to Jamaican Ukeleles, this one has it all.

Having exhausted this month's supply of market quips, the guys discuss the sayings of the grain biz that may or may not have any bearing on reality.

Roger recently listened to an insightful podcast which of course is a foreign concept to us, so Roger shared some of the big concepts from it and the guys discuss how these insights apply to our business. As a credit to Arkansas Public Schools, Jason learns what aphorism means and Roger learns what Zimbabwe is.

The guys are back from hiatus with a lively discussion on how merchandisers are coping with the current basis and spread environment and how that is affecting their plans for the next season. What should we be doing now? How should we be approaching the coming crop year? We also announce our first ever shipment of Elevator's Cut T-shirts (sized M, L, XL) and what you can do to get one for yourself.

We delve into the farmer-elevator relationship from the perspective of the farmer with Kansas farmer, Adam Baldwin. What communication is the farmer looking for, what gets their attention, and how do they like to interact with their grain buyers?

The guys delve into the pressing challenges, opportunities, and ideas from the largest annual conference of exclusively basis traders in history. Some great concepts on managing your business and how we see it applied in the grain industry. They discuss a possible monumental shift in preferred snacks of the show as well as new podcast swag in the works.

What do GMD, Free DP, and Runza all have in common? This episode. Join us as we talk through it all and memorialize our 100,000th download.

The guys chat up Jared Flinn of Bulkloads.com and discuss the finer points of elevator/trucker relationships.

The guys were invited on stage at the NGFA's annual Country Elevator Conference in St. Louis. This episode is a live recording of the panel they hosted about the upcoming merchandising and financial challenges that this crop year holds. We chat with bankers and merchants about how best to approach the year.

The guys delve into some of the aspects of what separates the haves and have-nots among merchandisers during years with flat/inverted market structures.

Known to many as the nicest guy in the grain business, Dan shares his wealth of experience with us in this episode. He shares some stories from his decades in the commercial grain business and tells us about the importance of building and maintaining relationships throughout his career. Dan also fills us in on what the heck a data scientist is and how they will help our industry grow into the future.

The guys are back with some news! Big upcoming event details. Then we psychoanalyze some of the things we say in the grain business and why. Finally, we finish on some of the exciting basis trading stories from this harvest given the historic basis volatility.