Agricultural debt at commercial banks eased further at the end of 2020, and loan repayment problems moderated slightly, said Economists Cortney Cowley and Ty Kreitman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in a release. General improvement in the agricultural economy likely drove the pullback in farm lending activity and strengthened credit … Read More

If seasonal trends prevail, Southern Plains weekly average fed steer prices should begin seeing some pressure soon. Average weekly slaughter steer prices for the Southern Plains from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service as compiled and plotted by the Livestock Marketing Information Center, hit their annual peak the third week of March.  The latest five-year average … Read More

Total red meat supplies in freezers Feb. 28 were up about 3% from January but were down about 12% from last year, said the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Monday in the monthly Cold Storage report. Total frozen poultry supplies on Feb. 28 were down about 3% from the previous month and down about 14% … Read More

Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment firms, again boosted their combined net long position in live cattle futures during the week ended Tuesday, as hedgers raised their net short position. The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.   FUNDS GET LONGER CATTLE   Managed money’s … Read More

The Australia beef industry is showing signs of entering a herd rebuilding phase, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report. The rebuilding efforts firmed FAS/Canberra’s 2021 forecasts of lower cattle slaughter, cattle exports, beef production and beef exports, the report said. With a reduced breeding herd and more heifers expected to be retained … Read More

Dry conditions in the western US continue to bring long-run uncertainty to cattle price prospects as strong export markets fueled rising feed costs over the last six months, said Matthew Diersen, risk and business management specialist at South Dakota State University (go Jackrabbits), in a Livestock Marketing Information Center letter to Extension agents called In … Read More

The spread between USDA-reported weekly choice and select beef carcass prices has fallen on uncharacteristic hard times and appears to be at a decision point. After opening the year significantly higher than last year or the 2015-2019 average and even going against a seasonal downturn for a time, the choice/select beef price spread fell sharply … Read More