Tom Polanzek
Archer-Daniels-Midland, one of the world’s largest grain traders, is offering incentives to U.S. farmers to deliver soybeans to one of its main processing plants this month as low prices have slowed grower sales, a grain trader and company person familiar with the matter said.
In an unusual offer during the peak fall harvest, ADM is allowing farmers to deliver soybeans to its plant in Decatur, Illinois, and determine the final selling price later without paying for storage, two of the sources said.
In return, they added, ADM would take ownership of the soybeans, allowing it to process the crop.
A company representative declined to comment.
The heavy harvest has put pressure on crop prices, with farmers worried about high costs of fertilizers and other inputs. What’s more, China, the largest importer of soybeans, has responded to President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs by turning to South America this year, depriving US farmers of a primary market.
FARMERS PUT HARVEST IN WAREHOUSES
Many farmers are putting soybeans into storage in hopes of better prices, growers and analysts said, leaving the biggest U.S. processors with less inventory.
ADM’s offer, known as free deferred pricing, will be available to farmers until the end of October, and those participating have until September 2026 to set a sale price, according to a company official.
“That tells me that they need beans, that they don’t have enough beans to continue their process,” said David Isermann, a farmer in Streator, Illinois, who will not participate in the ADM program.
Farmers said ADM’s offer was unusual because processors usually have access to abundant supplies at harvest time.
This year, farmers agreed to sell less of their crop than usual heading into harvest season, Miranda Wamsley, vice president of production for ADM Manufacturers, said in an interview last month. She did not provide specific amounts.
Some farmers said they usually sell about half of their intended crop before harvest, but this year they sold about 20% or less.
“Because prices are low, everybody on the farm is holding grain and saying, ‘No, you’re not going to get my grain until prices go up,'” said Steve Pitstick, a farmer in Maple Park, Illinois.
Commercial grain companies still need to process the grain into products such as vegetable oil.
U.S. soybean crushing jumped to the fourth-highest level of any month in September, according to data released Wednesday by the National Oilseeds Association.