Not every feed is real-time. GrainBrief refreshes each source on the cadence its publishing agency supports: some are daily, some weekly, some monthly, some seasonal, and some annual. We label refresh timing clearly so buyers know which signals are current operating intelligence and which are slower-moving benchmarks.
Decision-support, not trading advice. Government and public datasets can be revised, delayed, missing, or unavailable. GrainBrief's LOCK / HOLD / NEGOTIATE language is an informational procurement signal, not a guarantee, commodity trading recommendation, crop insurance recommendation, chemical-label instruction, or substitute for confirming terms with your elevator, supplier, lender, agronomist, or licensed advisor.
Free Intelligence Layers Being Packaged
GrainBrief's value is the synthesis layer: turning public data into procurement timing, basis risk, fieldwork windows, and supplier negotiation signals.
NOAA CPC outlooks
6-10 day, 8-14 day, monthly, and seasonal temperature/precipitation probabilities for weather-driven buying risk.
NASA POWER
Free ag-weather history and near-real-time weather variables for county-level stress scoring and local demo personalization.
USGS river levels
River gauge data for barge freight and basis stress on the Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri corridors.
WASDE surprise tracker
Monthly carryout-to-use and supply/demand deltas converted into plain-English bullish/bearish pressure.
Live Data Status
Grain Cash Bids
Fertilizer Prices (Retail)
Grain Prices Paid (NASS)
Crop Progress & Condition
Crop Insurance Prices (RMA)
Export Sales (FAS)
Export Inspections (FGIS)
CFTC Commitment of Traders
WASDE Supply/Demand
Grain Basis (AgTransport)
Corn-Ethanol Crush Margin
Soybean Crush Margin
Diesel & Propane (EIA)
Fertilizer PPI & Natural Gas
Drought Monitor
GDD Forecasts
Weekly Data Release Calendar
Government data releases follow a strict calendar. GrainBrief processes each release within 15–30 minutes of publication. Subscribers receive automated alerts tied to the highest-impact releases.
| Day | Time (ET) | Data Release | Source | Commodities | Why It Matters | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every Day | 6:00am CTGrainBrief pull | Cash Grain Bids (11 states) | USDA AMS MARS | Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Sorghum | Elevator bids — the price farmers actually receive. Basis calculated vs. CBOT nearby. | FREE |
| Every Day | 6:15am CTDerived after cash bids | Corn-Ethanol Crush Margin | EIA + FRED + USDA AMS | Corn, Ethanol, Natural Gas | Tells you whether ethanol plants are profitable and competing aggressively for corn. | DERIVED |
| Monday | 4:00pm ETApr–Nov only | Crop Progress & Condition | USDA NASS | Corn, Soybeans, Winter Wheat, Cotton, Spring Wheat | G/E condition ratings are the most correlated weekly signal to short-term futures moves during the growing season. | FREE |
| Monday | 4:30pm ET | EIA Weekly Petroleum (Diesel/Propane) | U.S. EIA | Diesel, Propane, Gasoline | Direct farm operating cost input. Propane drives grain drying cost in fall harvest season. | FREE |
| Thursday | 8:30am ETWe pull at 8:45am | USDA FAS Export Sales Report | USDA Foreign Ag Service | Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Sorghum, Soy Meal, Cotton | Gross new export sales + marketing year pace vs. USDA target. Single most market-moving weekly release. Large China corn/soy purchases move futures $0.10–$0.25/bu within 30 minutes. | FREE |
| Thursday | 8:30am ETWe pull at 9:00am | USDA FGIS Export Inspections | USDA Federal Grain Inspection Service | Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Sorghum, Oats, Barley | Physical grain loaded onto ships at Gulf/PNW/Atlantic terminals. Confirms whether FAS sales commitments are actually being executed. | FREE |
| Thursday | Releases middayWe pull Thursday night | NOAA Drought Monitor | Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln / NOAA / USDA | All Corn Belt and major ag states | State-level D0–D4 drought coverage. D2+ in Iowa/IL during July = strongest bullish price signal in grain markets. | FREE |
| Thursday | Every other week | USDA AMS Production Cost Reports | USDA AMS MyMarketNews | Anhydrous Ammonia, Urea, UAN 28/32, DAP, MAP, Potash, Diesel, Propane | Bi-weekly retail fertilizer prices from Iowa and Illinois — the Corn Belt benchmark for input cost planning. | FREE |
| Friday | ~3:30pm ETWe pull 4:00pm | CFTC Commitment of Traders | CFTC Public Reporting Portal | Corn (ZC), Soybeans (ZS), Wheat (ZW, KE, MWE), Oats, Soy Meal, Soy Oil, Urea, DAP, Anhydrous | Managed-money net positions as of Tuesday close. Swings of 20,000+ contracts in one week historically precede a price reversal within 2–3 weeks. | FREE |
| Friday | Weekly | DDG & Soybean Crush Prices | USDA AMS MARS (Reports 3511, 3616, 3618) | Distillers Dried Grains, Wet DG, Soybean Meal, Soybean Oil | Co-products of ethanol and soybean crushing. DDG prices affect corn ethanol crush margin. Soybean meal + oil prices drive soybean crush profitability. | FREE |
| 2nd Tuesday | 12:00pm ETMonthly | WASDE Supply/Demand Report | USDA FAS PSD Open Data API | Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Cotton, Sorghum — U.S. and world | Official USDA carryout (ending stocks) and supply/demand balance. A 50M bu corn carryout revision can move futures $0.15–$0.30/bu within minutes. GrainBrief updates all carryout-to-use ratios within 30 minutes of release. | FREE |
| Feb 1 | All dayAnnual | RMA Crop Insurance Projected Price | USDA Risk Management Agency | Corn, Soybeans, Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Cotton | The February discovery period average price — the floor used in Revenue Protection (RP) crop insurance contracts. Every marketing decision from March through harvest is made relative to this number. | FREE |
| Oct 31 | All dayAnnual | RMA Crop Insurance Harvest Price | USDA Risk Management Agency | Corn, Soybeans, Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Cotton | The October discovery average — determines whether RP insurance pays an indemnity. If harvest price > projected price, the insurance floor moves up. Farmers need this to know their minimum guaranteed revenue. | FREE |
| Monthly | Various | NASS Prices Paid Survey | USDA NASS QuickStats | Fertilizers, Fuels, Seeds, Chemicals | Annual survey prices farmers paid for inputs — national and state-level. Used for 5-year average benchmarking and cost-of-production calculations. | FREE |
| Daily | ContinuousGrowing season | NOAA NWS GDD Forecasts | NOAA National Weather Service API | All Corn Belt states (18 NWS stations) | 7-day Growing Degree Day accumulation for Corn Belt. GDD deficit + drought coverage = GrainBrief Yield Risk Score, a proxy for weather-driven price risk. Active May–September. | FREE |
Frequently Asked Questions
How accurate is the data?
GrainBrief prioritizes official public APIs and open data portals, then clearly labels source cadence. Raw observations come from the named source where available; GrainBrief-derived signals, indexes, and risk scores are calculated from those inputs. Government datasets can be revised, delayed, incomplete, or unavailable, so the data is only as current and accurate as the underlying source publication.
Why are cash bids not live real-time?
USDA AMS publishes elevator bid data after morning collection each business day — typically by 10am CT. True real-time cash bids require a paid licensing agreement with data aggregators like Barchart or DTN who collect directly from elevators via proprietary systems. GrainBrief uses the free USDA data because it covers the same elevators, lags by only a few hours, and costs you nothing. For decisions that require real-time bids (like a same-day cash sale), call your elevator directly.
When does GrainBrief's daily ingest run?
The main ingest job runs at 6:00am CT every day, pulling all sources that have new data. Thursday ingest runs a second pull at 8:45am CT specifically for USDA FAS export sales and FGIS export inspections (which release at 8:30am ET). Friday ingest runs a third pull at 4:00pm CT for the CFTC COT release. Derived signals (crush margins) compute after the 6:00am data is in the database.
What is not covered yet?
GrainBrief is a growing platform. We do not yet have: real-time CME futures quotes (requires paid exchange licensing), local elevator bid data from states outside our 11 covered by USDA AMS reports, ocean freight rates (Baltic Dry Index requires paid subscription), private crop tour estimates (Pro Farmer, StoneX — proprietary), or individual elevator-level basis by ZIP code (Barchart has this in their paid API). If there is a specific data source you want to see added, sign up and let us know.
Can I access the raw data via API?
GrainBrief API access is available on the Enterprise tier. The API delivers the same normalized price snapshots, COT positions, and export sales data in JSON format — useful for co-ops building member dashboards, agronomists building cost models, or developers integrating grain market data into other applications. Contact us for Enterprise pricing.
Are all these data sources really free?
The core sources listed here are public or open-access sources with their own terms, attribution rules, rate limits, and no-endorsement requirements. GrainBrief's value is not exclusive ownership of the public data; it is the synthesis layer that translates many source feeds into a single, practical weekly signal with refresh timing disclosed.
Get the Weekly Signal, Not Just the Data
All 9 data sources, synthesized into a plain-English buy/hold/wait outlook for your commodity and region — delivered every Monday morning before the market opens.
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