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Jun 28, 2019

Propane Planning For Fall

By Chad Larson - Energy Sales Manager

I will say 2019 won’t be a year we will ever forget.  As most of you have wrapped planting, and are into spraying, we now turn our focus to how much propane will we need this fall.

We all know the past few years in early fall we can have warmer than average temps and winds, the “blow torch” effect as I call it, that have made a corn crop much drier at harvest than we’d ever of dreamed a couple of months earlier.

However, being 3-4 weeks behind in planting this year, very similar to last year, we have been significantly behind in degree days.  As we sit today, we will need to be 5 degrees hotter during the day, and night for the month of July just to get back to where we were last year. Remember we barely made maturity last fall!

Then we will need above average temps late in the growing season to have the SAME moisture as last year.  Folks, that’s a lot of “stars that have to align” to think we will use minimal propane gallons for dryer.  Right now, I am expecting a pretty fair dryer season.

I want to start discussing the layer approach.  When you talk to me, your salesperson, or one of our admins, remember you don’t have to do all the gallons in one shot or one contract.  This approach is very similar to how you farmers market grain, you do layers. 

You can have multiple contracts, for any gallon amount, either prepay or 20 cents down. Layers are a good risk management tool, which if done correctly, can build you a nice average price.  Contact your salesperson to discuss your needs as we have seen good values as of this writing.

One thing I want to suggest is we look closely at what we think you’ll need.  This is for all dryer, barn, and home heat accounts. 

We strive not to have gallons unused as that creates a commitment fee charge for you the customer for any gallons you don’t take.  Please discuss your needs in detail with your salesperson, so we can hit it as close as we can for you this fall/winter.

Have a good 4th of July!

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