USDA lowers US wheat production estimate
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Aug. 12 lowered its estimate for US all-wheat production this year based on forecasts for lower soft red winter, other spring and durum wheat production that more than offset increased hard red winter and white winter wheat forecasts. The Department lowered its forecast for 2024-25 global and US...
Cargill earns two BIG Sustainability Awards
Business Intelligence Group (BIG) has named Cargill the winner of a pair of 2024 BIG Sustainability Awards in recognition of the company’s global efforts within the agriculture and food value chains. Cargill was the recipient of both the Sustainability Leadership Award and Sustainability Initiative of the Year Award for its Hatching Hope program. These BIG...
Canada funds work to develop more resilient soybeans
The government of Canada awarded up to C$2.3 million over four years to Performance Plants Inc. (PPI) to develop change-resistant, high-yielding soybeans. The award is through the AgriScience Program–Projects Component, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. PPI’s objective is to create soybean varieties that are more heat and drought-tolerant, herbicide-resistant, use water efficiently...
Canada, Russia wheat production threatened by dryness
A recent insurgence of heat and dryness in western and south-central Canada’s Prairies has raised concern about spring cereal production. The region had one of its best starts to the growing season in years, and dryness kicks in while wheat and barley are reproducing, sending some chills up many producers’ spines. The marketplace does not...
Grain market review: Coarse grains
The last several weeks have seen a mixed trend for maize (corn), although there was weakness in the United States on planting and yield expectations. The July World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report from the US Department of Agriculture added more bullish ideas on demand to the factors involved. In its Grain Market...
USDA: largest spring wheat production since 2020
When scouts fan out across North Dakota fields in the third week of July, they will be looking to confirm or moderate expectations of a high-yielding spring wheat crop forecast this month by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA on July 12 forecast production of spring wheat other than durum in the United...
US wheat, corn, soybean stocks up from 2023
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on June 28 said domestic stocks of wheat, corn and soybeans on June 1 were up more than 20% from a year earlier. The USDA, in its quarterly Grain Stocks report, estimated June 1 old-crop all wheat stocks, which comprise the 2024 carryover, at 702 million bushels, up 23%...
Key US crop areas battle too much, too little rain
Weather typically is the main force affecting agricultural commodity markets, from planting in the spring (or fall for winter wheat) to harvest in the fall (or summer for winter wheat), especially during the growing season for all crops. The most recent examples were from Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, and Brazil, the world’s largest...
Grain market review: Oilseeds
The prospect of ample supplies, despite weather problems in some producing regions, is pushing oilseeds prices lower. The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture said on June 12 in its Oilseeds: World Markets and Trade report that the US soybean oil price premium compared to other major exporters has declined, and...
COFCO, GROWMARK enter agreements on grain assets
COFCO International, Ltd. and GROWMARK Inc., on June 20, announced they have entered into definitive agreements regarding grain assets in Illinois. Beijing, China-based COFCO International has agreed to purchase GROWMARK’s minority stake in a transloading facility located in Cahokia. In contrast, GROWMARK has agreed to purchase a Chicago grain warehouse facility, known as the B-House, from...