commodities
Disease, drought, government. Pick the existential threat to farmers.
For the second time in a week, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told lawmakers that government is a greater threat to U.S. farmers than drought or disease. And in nearly the same words at two House hearings, he offered the might of the U.S. government to boost farm income through larger food and ag exports.
U.S. wheat output to plunge 21 percent; price rises for first time in four years
Along with corn and soybeans, U.S. wheat prices reached a record high in 2013, just before the collapse of the commodity boom. The USDA projects that this year's wheat crop will end the four-year decline in prices, partly because the harvest will be nearly one-half billion bushels smaller than a year ago.
Trump nominates Green for USAID and Giancarlo for CFTC
President Trump asked the Senate to put former Wisconsin Rep. Mark Green in change of the U.S. Agency for International Development and to formally name Christopher Giancarlo, now the acting chair, as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Green is former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania and a member of the board of the Millennium Challenge Corp., a U.S. foreign aid agency focusing on global poverty.
Across the board, farm groups ask Congress for more farm bill money
The continuing slump in the farm economy and shortcomings in the U.S. farm program make it imperative for Congress to provide additional funding for the 2018 farm bill, said a powerhouse bloc of farm groups. Their appeal to congressional budget and appropriations leaders came two weeks after the House Agriculture Committee asked for more money so it could plug holes in the farm safety net.
Hot issues could put the chill on farm bill fever
The Senate Agriculture Committee holds its first farm bill hearing today in Kansas, 19 months before expiration of current law. Congress has not enacted a farm bill on time since 1990, so an early start seems prudent — the committee held its kickoff in Washington last week. Yet, it's too early to push to the side other issues that could dominate 2017.
Are farmers facing the biggest farm collapse in decades?
The lean years following collapse of the agricultural boom in 2013 are "raising concerns that the next few years could bring the biggest wave of farm closures since the 1980s," says the Wall Street Journal in a story headlined, "The next American farm bust is upon us."
In world awash in grain, China’s stockpile heads for 17-year high
The global stockpile of grain will swell by 5 percent during 2016/17 because farmers are growing grain faster than the world can consume it, says the International Grains Council. "Grains inventories in the major exporters are predicted to grow to a seven-year high, while those in China could reach 200 million tons for the first time in 17 years," says the monthly IGC Grain Market Report.
Food processing giant Cargill adapts to calls for natural food
Cargill, the world's largest privately owned food processor, is taking steps to "de-commoditize," says the Financial Times, so it can satisfy interest among consumers for natural food, meaning non-GMO ingredients or food grown under specific production methods. Marcel Smits, Cargill chief financial officer, says the additional costs of creating a separate channel for a particular product, such as GMO-free corn syrup, are offset by higher profit margins.
Computerized trading silences the ‘open outcry’ pits again
A year after it closed most of its futures-trading pits in Chicago and New York, CME Group said it will close option pits in New York "as computerized trading claims another victim from the world's old-school financial system," said Reuters.
CME shortens livestock trading hours, eliminates idle time
The operator of the Chicago livestock futures and options exchanges said it would shorten the trading day effective Feb. 29 to the period when trading volume is heaviest and the markets have their greatest liquidity.
Barclays may exit part parts of commodity trading
Barclays, one of the five largest banks in comodities, "is reportedly planning to exit large parts of its agricultural trading business," says the Financial Times, with an announcement possible on Tuesday.