Winter wheat crop in slightly better condition
Nearly half of the U.S. winter wheat crop is in drought but its condition improved slightly in the past week, said the USDA on Tuesday. The weekly Crop Progress report also showed growers in the upper Midwest were rushing through corn and soybean planting after a slow start due to cold and wet weather.
High input prices imperil 2023 crops in Ukraine
Ukrainian farmers may reduce plantings of wheat and other crops for harvest in 2023 because warfare has reduced their income at the same time they face high fuel and fertilizer costs, said two IFPRI analysts during a briefing on Tuesday. A small crop in Ukraine, usually a leading wheat and sunflower oil exporter, could prolong tight global supplies that have driven up grain prices worldwide.
High commodity prices lure double-crop farmers — Survey
Nearly three of every 10 farmers with experience producing wheat and soybeans in one growing season say they will sow more winter wheat this fall, said a Purdue University poll on Tuesday. The practice, known as double-cropping wheat and soybeans, would mean larger wheat production in the United States and would help buffer the disruption in world food supplies created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Russian wheat booms, while world draws down stockpiles
Aided by one of its largest crops ever, Russia will again be the world’s largest wheat exporter in the year ahead while neighboring Ukraine will ship only half as much wheat as this year, the result of the invasion by Russia, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. The U.S. wheat crop …
Farm income high, except for cattle
Elevated commodity prices supported farm income and kept the U.S. agricultural economy strong into this autumn, said the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank on Wednesday. "Prices of most major crops were at multiyear highs moving into fall harvest and supported farm revenue prospects," wrote economists Nathan Kauffman and Ty Kreitman.
Crop yields seen falling without climate action – report
The planet could be struck by a wave of “unprecedented” crop failures in the next 20 years if global greenhouse gas emissions continue as usual, according to a recent report released by Chatham House that examines the compounding threats posed by climate change. No Paywall
China to be world’s leading corn importer even with record crop
A favorable growing season and government policies that encourage crop rotations will result in a record corn crop in China, estimated the USDA. China is second to the United States as a corn producer and will be the world's largest corn importer for the second year in a row, according to the monthly World Agricultural Production report.
With better rains, Australia harvests twice as much wheat
World wheat production is headed for a record high this year, with a bumper crop in Australia providing the latest bump upward. Australia's crop forecasters, in an estimate adopted by the USDA on Tuesday, say the wheat harvest "is estimated to have increased by 120 percent in 2020-21 to 33.3 million tonnes."
Highest corn and soybean prices since commodity boom, says USDA
U.S. farmers, who harvested some of their largest corn and soybean crops ever last fall, will reap the highest season-average prices for the crops since the heady days of the commodity boom that ended in worldwide surpluses seven years ago, said the government on Tuesday. Commodity prices are on the rise due to tightening global supplies and large purchases by China, the first country to rebound economically from the pandemic.
August takes the sheen off of U.S. corn and soybean crops
The USDA assessment of the condition of the corn and soybean crops nationwide took a beating from derecho damage in Iowa and droughty weather in the Midwest during August, said the USDA on Monday. The Crop Progress report listed 62 percent of corn and 66 percent of soybeans in good or excellent condition, compared to 72 percent of corn and 73 percent of soybeans in those categories at the start of month.
Coronavirus adds stress to agricultural finances
The agricultural sector will struggle over the next year because of the coronavirus pandemic, leading some farmers to quit or be forced out of business, said economist Allen Featherstone in a think tank paper released on Monday. (No paywall)
Record-high world grain production for second year in a row
With production surging by 4.4 percent, corn will drive world cereal grain production to record levels in 2020/21, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in its first forecast of the new crops. It was the second forecast in a week of record global output as the planting season ends in the northern hemisphere.
Record global corn and wheat crops on the way
World grain production will reach an all-time high of 2.23 billion tonnes, with record-setting wheat and corn harvests, said the International Grains Council on Thursday. The global inventory of all grains will rise for the first time in four years.
Farmers’ shift to soybeans won’t avert grain glut
Low market prices will deter farmers from planting as much corn as they planned a month ago, but a record corn crop is still on the horizon, said two Purdue University economists on Monday. The mammoth crop would create the largest corn stockpile since the late 1980s while the already-large soybean stockpile grow bigger still.
Coronavirus lands haymaker on U.S. farm sector
In its first assessment since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, the government forecast lower prices for U.S. crops and livestock as a worldwide economic slowdown, the result of aggressive efforts to squash the virus, weakens the global appetite for food. The notable exceptions are wheat and rice, where panic buying has driven up prices for the food grains, said the USDA on Thursday. (No paywall)
Crop outlook tainted with uncertainty
Corn and soybean plantings by U.S. farmers are sure to surge this spring, according to USDA and private analysts, but the coronavirus pandemic is creating uncertainty about whether there will be enough buyers for a bumper crops this fall. The economic slowdown is likely to reduce demand for corn ethanol, hitting corn growers in the wallet, but the alternative crop for many farmers, soybeans, faces a glut of its own.
Larger soybean and cotton plantings due to trade deal?
The "phase one" trade agreement with Beijing will bring larger U.S. plantings of soybeans and cotton this spring than now projected by USDA, as growers aim for revived exports to China, analysts said over the weekend. China is the world's largest importer of the commodities but U.S. ag exports to China were halved by the tit-for-tat tariffs of the Sino-U.S. trade war.
USDA takes an earlier look at the long-term crop forecast
Almost unnoticed, the USDA has shifted to an earlier reference point for an arcane but important document that helps shape the federal budget and provides a first look at the likely size of next year's crops. The change creates "additional uncertainties," said chief economist Robert Johansson on Monday, but the overall reliability of the 10-year agricultural baseline should be little affected.
U.S. corn crop could be smallest since 2012 drought
Based on surveys conducted ahead of USDA reports due for release today, analysts say corn plantings will total 86.7 to 87 million acres after a rainy and cold spring. That would be well below the 92.8 million acres that farmers had planned to seed.