Today's USDA reports offered something for everyone, but there were some very significant surprises. The first and most bearish surprise was that U.S. farmers said they would plant 95.9 million acres of corn. The trade was expecting at least 95 million acres, but 95.9 is a big number. There were three bullish surprises in today's numbers:
1 March corn stocks were 141 million bushels below the average trade estimate. This number should mean that corn ending supplies in the current marketing year will drop from 801 million bushels to 650 million or so in the April WASDE. That assumes USDA does not reduce demand going forward (which should be unlikely given the pace of export sales and ethanol production). Ending supplies of fewer than 7...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
