Price manipulation in the hay market

The one percent is getting screwed -- and maybe even killed -- by hay profiteers:

Between Feb. 12, 2013, and Nov. 9, 2015, the two engaged in a scheme to steal hay and sell it, the police said, earning about $30,000 from the illicit sale of the hay.

The police declined to say who bought the hay or to speculate about the black market for hay.

“We have had farms complain about stolen hay in the past,” said Trooper Melissa D. McMorris, a spokeswoman for the State Police. As far as she knew, she said, this was the first time the State Police had arrested anyone for the theft of hay.

Like any commodity, the price of hay fluctuates depending on many factors, including the region being sold. In times of drought, hay prices can soar and theft has been a problem on farms throughout the Midwest.

For instance, in 2012, an article in a publication focused on farming warned farmers in the Midwest to take extra precautions when the price of certain types of hay jumped from $220 per ton to more than $320.

The price of hay in New York varies both by the type of hay and where it is being sold. A bale of hay in North Salem can cost more than twice as much as a bale farther upstate, according to online hay exchanges.

The police declined to say how Mr. Penafiel and Mr. Ramirez-Morales orchestrated their theft, but the law enforcement official briefed on the case said he did not believe the Colley family had been aware of the thievery.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/n...-theft-arrests.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

The black market for hay doesn't seem to be very lucrative, if you can only make $30,000 in nearly three years, split two ways, selling stolen hay, but why should a bale of hay cost twice as much in North Salem as it does farther upstate?

 

Depends on what type of hay it is -- clover or alfalfa or some shitty-ass fescue -- plus local rainfall amounts.

 

Greater supply upstate?

 

Gary Glitter, "pleased."

 

I bow in your general direction.

 

A few years ago, we made a nice little profit selling hay to guys putting them in semis and trucking them to Texas. But, around here, now you see a lot of two- and three-year-old bales just rotting away.

 

Westchester Co. is big horse country, lots of "landed gentry" for the lack of a better term, there up by North Salem. Go north to Putnam and Dutchess counties and north of that, not anywhere near as much money and a far lower demand.

 

Not all hay is created equal. It’s not clear that identical bales are being priced in both locations or if one of the lower upstate prices is being compared with the one of the higher prices in Westchester.

In addition to normal supply and demand fluctuations and variable transportation costs, price will depend on the type of hay (orchard grass, timothy, alfalfa etc), the quality, which cutting, the size of the bale, the amount being purchased, whether delivery is included, is the purchase direct from the farmer or through a feed supplier.

 

Where I live, fescue has choked out damn near all of the orchard grass or timothy that used to grow pretty much everywhere. Nasty stuff, that fescue. And planting alfalfa every year is expensive.

 

I'm learning so much about hay.