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• "We have no clue what is going on in the market," said Peterson, who farms near Monument in northwest Kansas. He typically protects his investment in seed and fertilizer by "locking in" the price his wheat crop will fetch next July with a futures contract that shields farmers from market fluctuations by guaranteeing a price while the crop is in the ground.
• Farmers and livestock producers use the reports put out by the National Agriculture Statistics Service to make decisions -- such as how to price crops, which commodities to grow and when to sell them -- as well as track cattle auction prices. Not

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