Soybeans closed the week gaining support. The complex is being supported by continued drought pressure in Brazil. Some scattered rains in Brazil and Argentina added downward pressure in the market early this week. Struggling South American crops have given U.S. beans support on the global market, even with elevated prices. The USDA announced the sale of 132,000 metric tons of old crop soybeans to China Friday morning. That was the […]
A commodities financial expert says drought conditions in the Western Corn Belt and beyond have some farmers less optimistic for planting. “Everybody’s looking for just a little more moisture before they plant.” Curt Covington, Senior Director of Institutional Credit, with AgAmerica tells Brownfield the lack of moisture is out of farmers’ control in those regions, and many are moving ahead with the hopes the rain will come. “It’s going to […]
Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine is putting a squeeze on farmers trying to plant a crop. Ukraine farmer Kees Huizinga says despite the ongoing conflict they’re attempting to start planting the 2022 crop. But, he says crop rotations will likely have to be adjusted. “People will start to pant other crops,” he says. “But it also kind of depends on the area where they are. For example, we will not […]
The USDA says cattle placed in feedlots during February 2022 was 9% above 2021 at 1.85 million head. That’s at the top end of the pre-report range. Nearly 65% of the cattle placed weighed less than 800 pounds, which could imply ranchers are expecting lower feed costs in the coming months, giving them more time to feed out before heading to market this summer. February marketings were 5% above 2021 […]
Brandon Wipf is on the American Soybean Association Board and is also on the committee that oversees putting on the Commodity Classic. The 2022 Classic was his first as a committee member, and to hear it from Brandon, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into producing the mammoth show, especially coming off the one-year hiatus that resulted from the global COVID-19 pandemic. “We were definitely challenged this year […]
Congressman Greg Pence says he’d like to see action taken to ease the burden of high fertilizer prices on farmers. The Indiana republican joined more than 80 lawmakers in asking International Trade Commission Chair Jason Kearns to reconsider duties on phosphate fertilizer imported from Morocco and suspend the process to impose new duties on urea ammonium nitrate fertilizer from Trinidad and Tobago. “These are ways we can immediately impact or […]
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown says he’s pleased with the administration’s plans to support and expand American fertilizer production. “We’ve got to begin to resource and get more of these jobs in Ohio and America and get more production in the United States,” he says. “If we don’t, every time there’s a pandemic or a terrible climate event, it will continue to cause inflation and cost us jobs in our […]
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association hopes to increase export opportunities for US beef in the United Kingdom. Kent Bacus, senior director of international trade and market access with NCBA, has been in the U.K. this week talking about US beef production practices. “You have to start that conversation and you have to build that trust,” he says. “One of the things we’re doing is correcting the narrative for a lot […]
A rancher in Mexico is using regenerative agriculture practices to transform his pastureland. Alejandro Carillo’s 30,000-acre ranch is nested in the Chihuahuan Desert in northern Mexico. He says about 12 years ago a soil health practitioner gave him a new outlook on his pastures. “He looked at my land, he looked at my hills and mountain range, and I just pretty much have a lot of bare ground and […]
