The U.S. Midwest will remain extremely hot and dry the next few days, adding more stress to crops already damaged by a summer heat wave, but some relief rains are expected over the weekend, forecasters said. All-time high temperatures were forecast for many U.S. Midwest cities on Thursday. The midday temperature in Chicago was 99 […] Read more
U.S. crops shrivel in record heat, rains expected
Cargill earnings bounce back led by food sector
Reading Time: < 1 minute NEWS BRIEF U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. reported a rebound in earnings after its worst quarter in a decade, led by record profits in its global food ingredient businesses and stronger results in energy trading. Minneapolis-based Cargill, one of the world’s largest privately held corporations, reported $766 million in earnings from continuing operations for the […] Read more
U.S. Plains farmland values jump again
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmland prices in the U.S. Plains states extended record-setting gains in the fourth quarter of 2011, rising 25 per cent from a year earlier as cash-rich farmers competed for land, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said Feb. 15. In a quarterly survey that provides an important gauge of the U.S. agricultural economy, the […] Read more
Illinois farmers worried by extremely warm winter
Illinois, a key farm state in the heart of the Corn Belt, is basking in its sixth warmest winter in 117 years — good news for residents who have not had to shovel snow but a red flag for some of the state’s most productive businesses: farms. Illinois and neighbouring Iowa — also in the […] Read more
Aflatoxin feed recalls in U.S. point to tighter rules ahead
A series of recent recalls for pet and livestock feed in the United States for a corn-based toxic substance increases the pressure to tighten government food safety rules in proposals now being weighed by that country’s Food and Drug Administration, scientists say. "With the Food Safety Modernization Act coming into play into the grain industry, […] Read more
Investors wary as U.S. farmland prices hit record highs
U.S. farmland prices in the third quarter surged to the highest levels in more than three decades amid an accelerating agricultural boom that has so far defied fears of a bubble about to burst. Prices hit record highs in the U.S. Plains, where wheat and cattle dominate production, and jumped 25 per cent in the […] Read more
Traders Say Chicago Wheat Contract Still Broken
Reading Time: 3 minutes CME Group is celebrating the one-year anniversary of a controversial storage scheme for its benchmark wheat futures contract by saying it has fixed a long-standing problem on futures deliveries. Traders, however, remain far from convinced. Arguing that the cure has been worse than the disease, the traders say that by tweaking the century-old contract to […] Read more
CME says storage plan helping wheat “converge;” traders scoff
CME Group is celebrating the one-year anniversary of a controversial storage scheme for its benchmark wheat futures contract by saying it has fixed a long-standing problem on futures deliveries. Traders, however, remain far from convinced. Arguing that the cure has been worse than the disease, the traders say that by tweaking the century-old contract to […] Read more
U.S. grain firms tighten GMO policy, eye Syngenta corn
Major U.S. grain companies have tightened curbs on genetically modified grains not yet approved by foreign markets, with some singling out one popular corn variety made by Syngenta, fearing any trace of the biotech grain in shipments could shut off export markets. The action was taken just weeks before the U.S. corn harvest, when this […] Read more
U.S. to seek Canadian durum as U.S. acres plummet
The U.S. wheat industry is bracing for a tight supply of premium pasta wheat this year after the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected durum acres this week to be the lowest in 50 years as heavy rains and flooding prevented seeding. Some industry specialists expect the number to get even smaller as the U.S. Department […] Read more
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