Economy

A new soybean crushing plant in Illinois will help reduce U.S. farmers' reliance on Chinese demand, attendees at Incobrasa's ribbon-cutting ceremony said on Monday. 

U.S. talks to end the war with Iran advanced over the weekend even as uncertainty hung over the status of trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Even in the best-case scenario for resuming key cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz, it will take time for disrupted energy and fertilizer markets to recover, says Corey Rosenbusch, president and CEO of The Fertilizer Institute.

Key nitrogen fertilizer prices are falling as the world waits to see if a preliminary U.S.-Iran peace deal will hold. Even in the best-case scenario, it will take time to get facilities back up and fully running, says Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Alexis Maxwell. 

The Agriculture Department is putting $105 million into 40 research projects aimed at better equipping the U.S. to combat the spread of New World screwworm, the agency says. The National Corn Growers Association and 15 state corn organizations are calling on USDA to fund research supporting the full value of corn as a driver of new market opportunities and farm revenue.

As debate ramps up nationwide over the impacts of data centers, California legislators may impose strict controls on how new ones would operate in the state and who would pay to power them. The legislation comes as the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and high-capacity cloud computing is accelerating data center development nationwide.

USDA and the Department of Education announced $125 million in annual funding to improve agricultural research facilities for land-grant universities and other colleges of agriculture. 

Demand for major U.S. crops like corn is waning while harvests get bigger, creating an urgent need to develop new new biofuel markets for American agriculture producers, a new study says.

Price indicators for key farm inputs tumbled on Monday following news of the U.S.-Iran preliminary peace deal. The latest U.S. soybean crush data signals robust oilseed processing for the June-August quarter, says Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for StoneX Group.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the $1.3 billion fight against a potentially deadly livestock pest includes federal funds reallocated from a local food buying program. Rollins said USDA is “stretched” on using the Commodity Credit Corporation because the $30 billion annual cap has not been increased since 1987. 

President Donald Trump on Wednesday expressed doubts about renewing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement, which is up for reconsideration this year.