While most of the daily market focus is still on South American crop sizes, unseasonably warm temperatures in the Midwest have caused many producers to turn their attention toward the spring planting season. 

In my local area in central Illinois, I have seen several planters pulled out of sheds in the last week. Climate experts have predicted an above average chance for temperatures to be warmer than normal well into March, which will have many itching to get in the fields in the next month. 

In fact, there is already seed in the ground in parts of southern Texas. Warmth there will lead to an accumulation of growing degree days (GDDs) that could actually allow for emergence in the next 10 days. Obviously, this is a different farming environment than we in the Midwest are used to, but it...