My source for bean prices is the Chicago Board of Trade. If you will check, you will see that the market for November beans (farmers sell based on the November market) settled today at $11.84. That means that even with a basis of minus 30 or 40 cents, he could still get over $11.00 for his beans. November 2011 is at $11.52, so he should be able to book next years crop at or near $11.00 a bushel, too.
And just for the record, I have been an agricultural consultant for over 30 years now, supporting a family by walking fields and making recommendations to farmers on insect and weed control, fertilization, variety choices, etc., on cotton, soybeans, corn, milo and sweet potatoes. (I don't mess with sugar cane - no breeze in a cane field - and I don't mess with rice - too many cottonmouths on the levees.) For 15 of those years, I also farmed about 100 acres of family land, plowing, planting, cultivating, spraying, and selling my beans, cotton and milo. I also ran a cotton gin for two of those years.