Author: staff

By Maximilian Heath BUENOS AIRES, May 22 (Reuters) – Recent heavy rains in Argentina have delayed the country’s wheat planting, as well as its soybean and corn harvests, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Thursday in its weekly crop report. Argentina’s 2025/26 wheat planting season kicked off this week with just 3.4% of the planned 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres) planted so far. The figure is 10 percentage points behind where it was at the same point last year, and four percentage points under the five-year average. Argentina is a major global exporter of wheat. Recent downpours of between 100 and…

By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS, May 23 (Reuters) – The European Commission sought clarity from the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump recommended on Friday putting a 50% tariff on EU imports from June 1, with Brussels’ and Washington’s trade chiefs due to talk later. The Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 27-nation European Union, said it would not comment on the tariff threat until after a call between European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at 1500 GMT. European stocks tumbled and the euro gave back some gains, while euro zone government bond yields fell sharply after Trump’s announcement. “This is a major…

Pivot Bio, which develops microbial nitrogen products as an alternative to synthetic fertilizers, is relocating key parts of its business from Berkeley, California, to the Midwest. The company’s new footprint will be centered in two hubs: Center for Research, Development, Innovation & Operations – campus focused on science, product development and manufacturing operations.Global Headquarters – the company’s base for leadership and business operations.  The move brings the company closer to the heart of U.S. agriculture and many farmer customers. By centralizing teams and operations, Pivot Bio hopes to speed product development and decision-making, and make better use of technology like AI to…

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, more than 88% of South Dakota is experiencing some form of drought or dryness. A sliver of two southwest counties reported D3 extreme drought covering less than 1% of the state. This is considerably better than the week prior when 100% of the state reported moisture stress and nearly 3% of South Dakota suffered from D3 conditions. Laura Edwards, South Dakota state climatologist, said that rains from the past week should lead to continued improvement in drought conditions.  “From the North Dakota border down to about I-90, we saw weekly totals at about 4 to…

John Deere has acquired Sentera, a provider of remote imagery solutions for agriculture headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota.  The acquisition will advance Deere’s existing technology tools to generate and use data to make decisions that improve farm profitability, efficiency, and sustainability. John Deere Sentera Technology Drones equipped with Sentera technology fly over fields at high speeds and generate high-resolution images. Images are processed with Sentera’s FieldAgent application to identify the exact location of specific weeds to generate a weed map. This map becomes a targeted prescription for how much product a farmer needs to load into their sprayer, helping minimize…

The House Republicans’ newly unveiled budget proposal includes sweeping changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), potentially impacting millions of Americans who rely on food assistance to meet basic nutritional needs. Advocates and policy experts warn that the proposed reductions could represent the largest rollback of SNAP in the program’s history. Under the plan, the federal government aims to slash SNAP funding by as much as $300 billion over the next decade. This reduction would not only tighten eligibility and impose stricter work requirements but also shift a significant portion of the program’s financial responsibility to state governments; many…

U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) sent a letter Thursday to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins urging her to develop an emergency plan to vaccinate cattle against highly pathogenic avian influenza.  Since the most recent outbreak of HPAI beginning in February 2022, HPAI has impacted 116 commercial bird flocks and 26 backyard flocks in Round’s home state of South Dakota, amounting to 6.7 million birds. Nationwide, the virus has affected over 166 million birds across 50 states and Puerto Rico and in 671 counties. In March 2024, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service detected HPAI infections…

The growing outbreak of New World screwworm in Mexico has triggered serious concerns for U.S. agriculture. First detected in Chiapas in November 2024, NWS has now breached containment thresholds, spreading more than 127 miles beyond the secondary buffer zone into Oaxaca and Veracruz. With over 1,400 detections in Mexico, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins suspended live animal imports from Mexico on May 11, citing insufficient sterile fly capacity to contain the spread. Image by AFBF Sterile Insect Technique, which involves releasing sterile flies to control wild screwworm populations, has been the primary tool in keeping the pest at bay. The…

Just after 9:00 a.m. CT, July corn was down 4¾¢ at $4.58¼ per bushel. July soybeans were 7¼¢ weaker at $10.60¼ per bushel. Karl Setzer, partner with Consus Ag Consulting said, “The market has exhausted its fresh news from either side and traders are now focused on simply shoring up positions and starting the Memorial Day weekend. Fresh news is light this morning which is further cutting into trade activity, and volume. Volume will thin as the session progresses, and this can elevate volatility even more.” July wheat markets started the day mixed. CBOT wheat was down ¾¢ at $5.43¾…

1. Wheat Lower Overnight on Favorable Weather Wheat futures were lower amid favorable weather in several global production areas. Rainfall in the U.S. southern Plains will boost prospects for the hard-red winter wheat crop while precipitation in northern growing areas of the country will favor early spring wheat growth, said Don Keeney, an agricultural meteorologist with Maxar.  Drought conditions in Kansas and Oklahoma, the largest producers of winter wheat, were little changed week to week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. About 35% of Kansas was suffering from drought conditions as of May 20, down from 37% seven days earlier.…