Updated: January 21, 2021
By James C. Hanson , and Kevin McNew

The local basis, defined as the cash price minus futures price, reflects important information about regional supply and demand for a commodity. Corn basis estimates can be used by farmers, grain marketing firms, processors and feed buyers to forecast regional prices, make production or storage decisions, or assess different grain purchasing alternatives. This fact sheet gives monthly average estimates of corn basis and cash prices for five regions in Maryland.

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