As of last week, according to the Renewable Fuel Association (RFA), 73 of the nation’s 200 ethanol plants are idled and 70 percent are operating at reduced capacity. This would imply that 57 are still operating at normal output levels. Those plants have seen their gross margins bounce on DDGS and distillers corn oil prices, and a drop in corn and natural gas costs.
However, as an industry, the picture is bleak when extrapolating the margins across production levels and comparing to the industry’s sunk capital and fixed costs.
Demand for motor fuel has hit its lowest levels in decades because of the limits on travel and the general economic slowdown caused by the mitigation efforts for COVID-19. Now that we’re c...
The corn and soy complex closed higher, with the wheat market mixed, as winter wheat closed up but spring wheat and livestock ended lower. Part of the strength for corn and soybeans may have been a weather premium, as crop planting has started out fast but warm weather has been slow to develop...
Real GDP grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2026, slightly below the consensus expectation of 2.3 percent but above the 0.5 percent growth in Q4 2025. The GDP number matches the average annualized pace of growth since the peak back in late 2007, right before the Financial P...
Reflect for a moment on what you eat. There is a lot of advice out there in the ether about what you should eat, but really, what do you currently eat and how much? The good people at the USDA have some data for you, to help you answer that question. USDA says that we eat quite a bit of meat. L...
