Corn carryout is narrowing on both old crop and new crop and the resulting stocks-to-use figure is the tightest in four years. Bryan Doherty, Senior Market Advisor at Total Farm Marketing, joins Market Talk the day after the August WASDE to break down a 180.7 bushel national corn yield, the wide gap between the I-states and a drought-stressed western Corn Belt, and why he thinks 2027 sets up as a must-have crop year. Bryan also continues our lesson series built on Total Farm Marketing's special report, 12 Option Strategies for an Uncertain World, walking through the bull call spread and the bear put spread and when each one fits a producer's marketing plan.

On this week's Cattle Chatter, brought to you by Zoetis, Brad Kooima with Kooima Kooima Varilek breaks down the latest slaughter numbers while looking at the impact of extreme heat, dry pastures and an uptick in video cattle sales. Was last week's cash cattle trade actually cattle purchased for deferred delivery? As Labor Day approaches, the focus turns to beef demand and boxed beef movement. How does the market get the boxes turned, and what will it take to keep product moving as we look beyond the holiday and into the fall?

We also begin the program today with market analysis and perspective from Sue Martin with Ag & Investments in Clarion, IA during Segment One of Thursday's show.