Ottawa Coop Grain Comments

November 4^th, 2008

Grains pulled higher by big gains in energies.

• Soybeans

Closed 21 ½ cents higher. Market supported by steeps gains in energies and a steep decline in the US dollar. Market feels slightly more comfortable of a bottom being placed after the USDA incredibly had to revise their October 10^th crop report acreage down 1.1 million acres due to a data collection error. The October 28^th revision decreased carryout 15 million bushels to 205 million bushels. Export demand has been very impressive the last couple of weeks as evidenced by export sales of 53.5 million bushels reported last Thursday and export inspections of 49.4 million reported on Monday.

Private estimated this week show FCStone at 39.2 BPA and Informa at 40.2 BPA. Harvest progress pegged at 86% Monday.

· Corn

Closed 10 cents higher. Revised USDA October data dropped planted and harvested acreage by 1 million to 78.2 million harvested acres. Corn yield estimated at 153.9 BPA, a decrease of 0.1 BPA versus the October 10^th number. Carryout was lowered 66 million bushels to 1.088 billion bushels. Corn harvest estimated at 55% Monday versus 79% last year.

Updated supplemental CFTC reporting show index funds still long 245,768 contracts of futures and options as of 10/28/2008. Energies traded sharply higher today: December crude closed $6.62 per barrel higher at $70.53 and heating oil closed 17.88 cents per gallon higher at $2.1616. The DOW Jones index was up 305.45 points at 9625.28.

Wheat

Closed 11 ¼ cents higher. Market continues to exhibit unwarranted volatility given large domestic supplies, sizable recent correction and relative lack of competitiveness in the export market. Some talk of lessened soft wheat acres due to slow pace of corn harvesting. Late wheat planting and early crop development weather looks like:

Non-Commercial Funds Estimated Position (futures position only, in contracts)

Commodity	CFTC 10/28/2008	Current Estimated Position	Today’s Estimated Activity
Soybeans	+20,797	+24,297	+3,000
Corn	+87,019	+93,519	+4,000
KC Wheat	+8,847	+8,847	+200

This data and these comments are provided for information purposes only and are not intended to be used for specific trading strategies.  Although all information is believed to be reliable, we cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness.  Commodity trading involves risks, and you should fully understand those risks before trading.