Geo Grain

BOZEMAN, Montana (November 8th, 2010)—Cash Grain Bids, a premier provider of cash market data for grain producers, merchants, and traders, today announced its official name change to GeoGrain. Since 1999, Cash Grain Bids has been the key generator of specific market research and intelligence for grain buyers and sellers. As GeoGrain, the company will continue to deliver customers with the same quality data, enhanced by new and improved research technologies.

“We have always been focused on supplying farmers and grain traders with precise, actionable cash market information,” says GeoGrain Founder and President Kevin McNew, “and with new advances in our market research and analysis came the opportunity to really describe what our company does—paint a clearer picture of the economic geography of grain markets, hence GeoGrain, a name that reflects the national scope of our service.”

GeoGrain evaluates over 48,000 daily prices from around the country to inform farmers and grain traders with precise and accurate cash market intelligence. The new GeoGrain Optimizer tool helps grain producers find, on average, an additional 10 to 20 cents per bushel of crop, amounting to an annual increase of $32,000 in revenue. The Optimizer, paired with My Grain Trades and the new administrator options, can now be integrated into existing systems to allow corporate users to monitor and evaluate their entire market production. Additionally, GeoGrain has developed a new, easy to use interface for accessing historical data. All of GeoGrain’s products and services are available at a price that’s affordable to the competitive farmer.

GeoGrain’s innovative cash market tools, along with its affordable brokerage service GrainHedge, help to connect thousands of grain producers nationwide to the best marketing solutions available. Founded in 1999 by Economics P.H.d. Kevin McNew, GeoGrain has been a leading figure in cash market research. GeoGrain’s evaluation of hard market data, not speculation, allows them to calculate the strongest grain marketing options for producers, all at an affordable price. GeoGrain is located in Bozeman, Montana. For more information, visit www.geograin.com.

Cody Bills, Director of Client Relations
Tel: (866) 290 - 1196
cody@geograin.com

In addition, users can also specify the Maximum Driving Miles that they are willing to move grain, thereby limiting their results to only those in a certain driving distance from the farm. By default, the Optimizer searches within 200 miles of a user's farm location.

The Optimizer now provides guidance to users on the relative strength or weakness of a basis quote as compared to historical norms.

A five-year history of basis is presented for each basis quote through various pages including the BIDS, LOCAL MARKETS, OPTIMIZER and BASIS MAP pages. The 5-year history compares the current basis quote for a specific grain buyer to the same buyer's grain basis during that delivery period. An average basis, maximum basis and minimum basis is reported, as illustrated in the graphic below.

A 5-color icon system is used to alert the user about the relative strength (green) or weakness (red) of the current basis relative to the history. The icon legend is as follows

Please note that in some instances there is less than five (5) years of history on a grain buyer or in a few cases of new markets no history at all. No history on a market will result in no icon being displayed, while markets with less than five years of history will still display an icon but in the dialog box it will display the number of years of history (e.g., Historical Analysis Based on 3-Year Period).

Headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, Cash Grain Bids is the leading source for cash grain market intelligence with current and historic prices from over 3,400 cash grain markets located throughout the U.S. Each day, the company collects and updates over 50,000 records of corn, soybean and other grain prices for cash and forward delivery up to twelve months in the future.

Kevin McNew, president and founder of Cash Grain Bids, views this alignment of companies as a way for farmers and agribusinesses, including ethanol producers, to eliminate volatility in grain pricing. “This relationship brings Planalytics’ sophisticated and detailed weather and crop forecasting intelligence together with local cash pricing of corn, soybeans, wheat and several other commodities. While we can’t eliminate the risk associated with commodities marketing,” McNew states, “we can at least remove some of the uncertainty associated with weather and its impact on plant health and, ultimately, crop production.”

As part of this new business arrangement, Planalytics will offer Cash Grain Bids “Optimizer” tool on its Market Insights client intranet site. OptimizerSM enables farmers to determine the best market to sell their grain based on current price offers, adjusted for shipping costs based on actual driving miles from the farm field to the elevator. Grain processors and other agribusiness firms can use Optimizer to track shifts in local market demand that, combined with Planalytics weather insights and yield projections, can ultimately impact grain supply.

States Fred Fox, CEO of Planalytics, “we are delighted to be working with Kevin and his team at Cash Grain Bids to develop additional business decision tools for our clients. Optimizer brings full circle our offerings to farmers that buy the seed, fertilizer and chemicals to produce the crops… that food processors and ethanol plants need to feed and fuel our population.”

About Planalytics, Inc. Planalytics, Inc. is the singular global source of Business Weather Intelligence– the actionable information companies need to understand and optimize the impact of weather on their business. Weather is the most volatile of all external factors affecting business performance and Planalytics helps companies proactively manage this risk. Powered by an unparalleled database of weather’s financial and volumetric impacts, proprietary forecasting technologies and market-specific expertise, Planalytics Life Sciences has the tools and resources to assist companies involved in all aspects of food and fiber production... from crop inputs (seed, fertilizer, and crop protection) to food distribution, brokering, and retail. For more information, visit http://www.planalytics.com.

About GeoGrain, Inc. GeoGrain, Inc. is the leading source of cash grain market intelligence in the U.S., deploying numerous Web and software-based applications for more profitable commodity trading decisions. These include Cash Grain Optimizer, My Grain Trades, and GrainHedge.com.