08/19/26 Afternoon CommStock Report – Corn Versus Cows-South Dakota’s Great Mistake

The Commstock Report is a twice daily market report. 08/19/2026 Corn Versus Cows-South Dakota’s Great Mistake PLEASE REFER TO THE BROKER COMMENTARY PAGE FOR UPDATES!! Click Above to Watch Brian’s Afternoon Market Update We expect “the market” to fix low prices but sometimes low prices are created by “the market” too. I think South Dakota is a real-life example of how market signals can get short-circuited. Today we have a cow-shortage and a corn-surplus in the US and South Dakota is part of the reason why. Over recent years a lot of acres in South Dakota that used to be ranchland with cows is now growing corn instead. $7 corn proved to be an illusion (bait) that brought marginal acres into corn production but now they are tied up and will not easily be converted back. As you travel east to west across the state, fewer South Dakota corn growers have the soil type to grow corn profitably so are consistently losing money as marginal producers kept in business by crop insurance and USDA ACHs. Ranchers there however, are highly profitable. South Dakotans also made the mistake of rejecting CO2 pipelines which would add demand to the corn market by reducing the…