Crude and natural gas are on The Daily Board because they move the costs around a Prairie crop, not because they are grain. WTI is the freight and vegetable-oil leg. Natural gas is the nitrogen leg. Neither number is a canola or wheat bid.
The definition
WTI is the NYMEX crude contract named on the line, in U.S. dollars per barrel. Natural gas is the NYMEX Henry Hub contract, in U.S. dollars per mmBtu. Gold and silver sit in the same metals block as a risk read. They are not a fertilizer quote.
Fertilizer
Anhydrous ammonia and urea are made from natural gas. A sharp gas rally is a warning on the next nitrogen quote, not a same-day invoice. The Board prints the gas close so the fertilizer bill is not a surprise a month later. It does not print a urea price.
Freight
Diesel follows crude, with a lag and its own basis. A WTI drop does not cut the trucking bill the next morning. It does change the direction of the fuel cost that sits under grain hauling and input delivery. Read the crude line as a freight input, then keep the grain close separate.
Crush
Soybean oil is tied to energy through renewable diesel and the vegetable-oil complex. Canola futures often move with soybean oil. A crude rally can show up in the canola close. It still has to pass through oil, crush margin, the loonie, and basis before it is a cash bid. The canola page covers that gap.
If the issue says energy shrugged off a grain selloff, the grain bid and the fuel bill moved apart. That is the point of printing both.
Closes
Energy archive: WTI and natural gas. Related: how to read a print, canola close and the cash bid.