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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Monday, March 18, 2024
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s index of global food commodity prices eased again in January, led by lower prices for grains and meat, and is down 10.4% from a year ago.
The Department of Agriculture’s annual Crop Production report surprised traders with increases to the 2023 corn and soybean yield, pulling prices for both commodities lower in what could be the start of a longer trend.
The first thing U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack did after the U.S. lost its second USMCA dairy battle with Canada was vow to keep on fighting – reminiscent of statements released by U.S. lawmakers and U.S. dairy groups, but that fight may be at an end after two exhaustive legal fights that both ended in a decision by a three-member dispute panel.
The USDA’s Economic Research Service on Thursday lowered its forecast for U.S. agricultural exports in fiscal year 2024 to $169.5 billion. That’s down $2.5 billion from USDA’s previous forecast in August and down $9.2 billion from exports in FY 2023.
It’s all political. That’s the message from the U.S. to the three-member U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement panel that will be ruling on the U.S. complaint against Mexico’s attempt to block imports of genetically engineered corn.
Brazil, a country that produces 42% of the world’s soybeans and 12% of its corn, is intrinsic to global food production, but all of that hinges on the South American nation’s ability to bring in billions of dollars’ worth of fertilizer from thousands of miles away. It’s a situation that Matt Simpson, CEO of the company Brazil Potash, said he wants to help change.
Ukrainian farmers are producing more wheat and corn than expected in a war-torn country where seeds and inputs are difficult to come by and swaths of farmland are in occupied territory, but exports are on the decline again as Russia steps up its attacks on Ukraine’s beleaguered port facilities, according to a new analysis by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
The Agriculture Department on Thursday raised its yield estimates for corn and soybeans and predicted stronger production for both commodities in its November crop report.