June pork exports fell below year-ago levels for the first time this year but first-half shipments remained on a record pace for 2020, according to data released by the USDA and compiled by the US Meat Export Federation. June beef exports were down sharply from a year ago, reflecting the lingering effect of slower production … Read More

Farm lending slowed alongside the initial effects of the pandemic and a more pessimistic outlook for agricultural economic conditions, said a release from the Federal Reserve Bank on Kansas City’s Omaha, Neb., branch. The volume of total non-real estate farm loans continued into a year-long trend of declines during the second quarter of 2020, the … Read More

Consumer beef demand going forward will depend largely on the larger economy and the status of economic support in the wake of pandemic disruptions, said Oklahoma State University Agricultural Economist Derrell Peel in a letter to Extension agents called Cow/Calf Corner. The economy was wracked like never before in the first half of the year, … Read More

Farmer sentiment was virtually unchanged in July in comparison to a month earlier, according to the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer, said a university release. The index rose just one point from June to a reading of 118, still 30% lower than in February before the pandemic began affecting the agricultural economy, the survey … Read More

Acreage set-asides are being discussed as a farm price-support policy, yet reducing US production could lead to loss of world market share, said a group of agricultural economists from the University of Illinois and Ohio State University in a study published by Illinois farmdocdaily. World production of corn and soybeans increased significantly in the past … Read More

Large commodity investment funds, called managed money by traders, advanced their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday as hedgers expanded their net short position. The information came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday. Managed money’s new net long live cattle futures position Tuesday … Read More

Andrew Griffith, agricultural economist at the University of Tennessee, said in a letter to Extension agents that there was a good chance that boxed beef prices had hit their seasonal low. But that didn’t mean prices were likely to break out to the upside. “If they have hit their low then there is a good … Read More