Table 1. Pricing Results for 36 Market Advisory Programs, Corn, 1995-2000 Crop Years, Commercial Storage Costs

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

Net

Advisory

Market Advisory Program

Price

---$ per bushel (harvest equivalent)---

Ag Alert for Ontario

N/A

2.47

N/A

Ag Profit by Hjort

3.08

2.49

2.00

2.05

1.89

N/A

Ag Review

2.59

2.76

2.57

2.25

2.12

2.03

AgLine by Doane (cash only)

3.15

2.65

2.33

2.22

2.08

2.18

AgLine by Doane (hedge)

N/A

2.61

2.29

2.32

2.13

2.26

AgResource

3.90

3.12

2.07

2.21

2.49

2.78

Agri-Edge (cash only)

3.07

2.62

2.15

N/A

Agri-Edge (hedge)

3.15

3.10

2.35

N/A

Agri-Mark

3.62

2.73

2.13

1.97

2.03

2.06

AgriVisor (aggressive cash)

3.30

2.83

2.43

2.25

2.12

2.23

AgriVisor (aggressive hedge)

3.10

2.58

2.41

2.05

1.99

2.23

AgriVisor (basic cash)

2.72

2.65

2.34

2.16

2.10

2.21

AgriVisor (basic hedge)

2.90

2.63

2.33

2.03

2.07

2.21

Allendale (futures & options)

N/A

2.75

2.38

2.09

2.10

1.91

Allendale (futures only)

2.46

2.08

2.55

2.36

2.20

2.17

Brock (cash only)

2.74

2.70

2.34

2.10

2.09

1.98

Brock (hedge)

2.29

2.39

2.64

2.40

2.03

2.29

Cash Grain

N/A

2.06

Co-Mark

N/A

2.03

Freese-Notis

2.95

2.87

2.22

2.23

1.78

2.07

Grain Field Report

3.19

N/A

Grain Marketing Plus

N/A

1.79

Harris Weather/Elliott Advisory

3.16

2.28

N/A

North American Ag

3.22

N/A

Pro Farmer (cash only)

3.16

2.64

2.19

2.09

1.66

1.91

Pro Farmer (hedge)

3.05

2.67

2.28

2.19

1.69

1.83

Progressive Ag

N/A

2.53

2.26

1.93

2.12

Prosperous Farmer

2.91

N/A

Risk Management Group (cash only)

N/A

2.10

2.20

Risk Management Group (futures & options)

N/A

1.97

2.19

Risk Management Group (options only)

N/A

1.98

2.16

Stewart-Peterson Advisory Reports

2.90

2.46

2.09

2.02

1.90

1.81

Stewart-Peterson Strictly Cash

2.92

2.68

2.32

2.28

1.95

1.94

Top Farmer Intelligence

3.17

2.44

2.15

2.12

2.10

2.38

Utterback Marketing Services

N/A

2.74

2.51

2.08

2.39

Zwicker Cycle Letter

3.15

2.56

2.40

2.03

N/A

Descriptive Statistics:

Average

3.03

2.63

2.32

2.17

2.02

2.13

Median

3.08

2.64

2.33

2.16

2.07

2.16

Minimum

2.29

2.08

2.00

1.93

1.66

1.79

Maximum

3.90

3.12

2.74

2.51

2.49

2.78

Range

1.61

1.04

0.74

0.58

0.83

0.99

Standard Deviation

0.33

0.22

0.18

0.15

0.16

0.21

Market Benchmarks

24-Month Average

2.90

2.65

2.33

2.24

2.05

2.09

20-Month Average

3.07

2.66

2.27

2.12

1.97

2.01

Farmer Benchmark

USDA Average Price Received

3.06

2.50

2.23

1.97

1.93

1.95

Notes: N/A denotes "not applicable" -- program did not exist or was not evaluated for that marketing year. Net advisory prices and benchmark prices are stated on a harvest equivalent basis. A crop year is a two-year marketing window from September of the year previous to harvest through August of the year after harvest.

0.89

0.05

0.33

0.03

-0.04

0.02

-0.04

0.00

0.08

0.02

0.25

0.02

-0.02

0.01

-0.04

0.00

-0.09

0.00

-0.07

0.01

-0.05

0.03

-0.10

0.01

-0.31

0.02

-0.20

0.02

-0.35

0.01

-0.28

0.02

-0.14

0.04

-0.43

0.03

-0.03

0.02

-0.06

0.02

0.298544

0.013025547