How to track grain contracts

Tracking a grain contract means knowing four things at any moment: what you agreed, what you have hauled against it, what you have been paid for it, and what is still owed. Here is what to record for each, and how to keep it right through harvest.

By Ruslan Glick, Winnipeg · Updated 3 October 2026

1. What to record for every contract
2. Track every load against it
3. How much of the crop is sold
4. Your weighted average price
5. Watch the delivery windows
6. Check each settlement
7. A spreadsheet or an app

1. What to record for every contract

Copy these from the contract itself, the day you sign it, before the paper goes in a drawer:

Buyer and contract number

The number is what the buyer prints on every ticket and settlement, so it is how you will match them later.

Crop and grade

The grade the price is for, such as 1 CAN canola or 2 CWRS 13.5. A load graded lower is paid less, and you will want to know whether that was agreed.

Quantity

In the unit on the contract, tonnes or bushels. If you think in the other one, convert once and keep both (bushels to tonnes, by crop).

Price, and what is still open

A flat price is simple. For a basis contract or a futures-only (HTA) contract, write down the part that is set and the part that isn't; the contract isn't fully priced until both are.

Delivery window

The first and last day, as printed, not just the month. "October 15 to November 30" and "November" lead to different deadlines.

Where it is delivered, and freight

Delivered to the elevator or picked up at the farm, and any freight rate per tonne. It decides what the buyer can take off for trucking.

Anything else in the fine print

Premiums, discounts for moisture or dockage, and what happens if you can't deliver in the window.

2. Track every load against it

Every truck that leaves the yard comes back with a scale ticket. Record each one: the ticket number, the date, the net weight, the dockage, moisture and grade, and which contract it went on.

Then work out what is delivered by adding up the tickets on each contract, and what is still owed as the contract quantity minus that. Never type the delivered figure by hand. A typed number drifts from the tickets after one missed load, and the tickets are what the buyer will pay on.

Keep your own moisture and grade reading next to the elevator's on each ticket, if you test on the farm. When a settlement comes back graded lower than you expected, you will have your own numbers for that load.

3. How much of the crop is sold

Per crop, compare what you expect to grow with what is contracted. Expected production minus contracted is what is still unsold, the grain that is still riding on the market. Update expected production as the crop comes off; a bushel estimate in July is not the same as what is in the bins in October.

Then check you can deliver what you sold: what is still owed against what is in the bins plus what is still in the field. If the bins come up short, you want to know before the delivery window does.

4. Your weighted average price

The price you actually sold at is not the average of your contract prices. It is weighted by size: for each crop, multiply each priced contract's quantity by its price, add those up, and divide by the priced quantity.

Canola, 300 t at $655 and 240 t at $672: (300 × 655 + 240 × 672) ÷ 540 = $662.56 a tonne. The plain average of the two prices is $663.50. The gap grows when one contract is much bigger than the others. Leave open contracts out until they are priced, or they drag the average towards zero. The weighted average calculator does this for any list of contracts.

5. Watch the delivery windows

Sort contracts by the last day of the window, not the month. Two weeks before a window closes, check how much is still owed on it and whether trucks and elevator space are lined up. If a window is going to pass with grain still owed, talk to the buyer before it does: an extension agreed in advance is usually cheaper than the penalty in the fine print.

6. Check each settlement against the contract

The settlement is the buyer's statement of what they paid and why. Put it next to the contract and the tickets it pays for, and go line by line:

• Price and grade. Paid at the contract price, or less? If it is less because the grain was graded lower, was that grade agreed? In Canada, if you delivered to a licensed elevator and disagree with the grade, you can ask the Canadian Grain Commission for a binding grade, but only up to 7 days after delivery.
• Weight. Paid on the weight your tickets show, less the dockage on them? A gap the dockage doesn't explain is worth a question.
• Freight. The rate on the contract times the tonnes, or something else?
• Every other deduction. Drying, cleaning, elevation and levies: is each one on the contract, or something you agreed?
• Payment. Mark it paid when the money arrives, so you always know what is still to come.

The free settlement checker does this for one settlement, in your browser.

7. A spreadsheet or an app

A spreadsheet is enough for a handful of contracts with one or two buyers. The free grain contract spreadsheet has a sheet for contracts, one for bins, and one that works out how much is sold and the weighted average per crop. Every formula is explained on its page.

It gets hard once loads are going out. Every ticket has to go on the right contract, every settlement has to be checked against the contract and the tickets, and the windows keep moving. That is the part an app does for you.

GrainPosition is built for exactly this: take a photo of a contract, a ticket or a settlement and it fills in for you to check; delivered and owed come from the tickets; each settlement is checked line by line; and the delivery windows count down to their real last day. It imports the free spreadsheet, and it is free during early access. If you are weighing it against other apps, six grain marketing apps are compared here, with sources.

Questions

What should I record for each grain contract?

The buyer and contract number, the crop and grade, the quantity, the price (or which part of it is still open), the delivery window's first and last day, where it is delivered, and any freight rate, premiums or discounts written on it.

How do I track deliveries against a grain contract?

Write down every load from its scale ticket: ticket number, date, net weight, dockage, moisture and grade, and which contract it went on. What is delivered is the sum of those tickets, and what is still owed is the contract quantity minus that sum. Never type the delivered figure by hand.

How do I work out my weighted average grain price?

For each crop, multiply each priced contract's quantity by its price, add those up, and divide by the total priced quantity. 300 t at $655 and 240 t at $672 average $662.56 a tonne, not the $663.50 plain average of the two prices.

Do I need software to track grain contracts?

Not for a handful of contracts with one or two buyers: a spreadsheet works. It gets hard once loads are going out, because every ticket has to go on the right contract and every settlement has to be checked against both. That is where an app saves time.