CROPS

A s the old screen door slaps shut and the grain markets step off the porch ready to go to work, the jacket collar is turned up against the chilly wet wind. Snow is in the forecast for some plains states and rain is slowing down the corn planters and starting to worry spring wheat planters in Canada.

Late corn planting, which could lead to a shift of corn acreage to later-planted soybeans, is not a big concern yet. The optimum window of planting is generally open until the second week of May for a wide swath of the Midwest, and US producers of grain can really move quickly if they need to. Ext...