The USDA’s December Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report indicated that on Dec. 1, the US hog industry was bigger and more productive than it was a year earlier. For the fifth straight year, the Dec. 1 inventory of marketing hogs was the highest since the series began in 1963, at almost 71 million head, 3.1% … Read More

Large commodity investment firms, called managed money, increased their collective net long position in live cattle futures during the week ended last Tuesday while hedgers advanced their net short position. The data came in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday. Managed money’s new long position in live cattle was 79,212 … Read More

The USDA’s Economic Research Service Thursday said in its monthly Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook that its fourth-quarter 2019 beef production estimate was adjusted upward by 15 million pounds to 7.0 billion from the December report, raising estimated annual production to 27.2 billion pounds.   NON-FED SLAUGHTER UP SHARPLY   The increase was based on … Read More

It looks like US agriculture was the main beneficiary of the “Phase 1” agreement with China that was signed Wednesday. With the signing, the US Trade Representative’s office published a fact sheet about what was in the trade agreement.  The pact requires structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime in the … Read More

The number of cattle sold to beef packers from Kansas feedlots in November rose from the seasonal low in October but continue to run less than a year ago. The information came from data accumulated by the Kansas State University Extension Service in a monthly survey of selected feedlots around the state.  The data was … Read More

Livestock markets this year look to capitalize on reduced world protein supplies associated with African swine fever in Asia, according to Todd Hubbs, agricultural economist at the University of Illinois, in a presentation at the Illinois Farm Economics Summit in December. Hubbs said he expected robust exports through the year.  Domestic meat demand also remains … Read More

The USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist Friday reduced its estimate of 2019 total red meat and poultry production to 50.203 billion pounds from 50.246 billion last month as lower forecasts for pork and turkey production more than offset predictions of higher beef production. The forecasts came in the USDA’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and … Read More