Last week, the US Federal Reserve Board released its October Beige Book update, a summary of commentary on current economic conditions by Federal Reserve District, that contained some observations about the US agricultural economy.   SIXTH DISTRICT – ATLANTA   Agricultural conditions remained mixed.  Parts of Alabama, Georgia, the Florida panhandle and Tennessee continued to … Read More

With Fall’s arrival, the focus of cattle producers is shifting to winter feed supplies and to alternatives to hay, said the Beef Cattle Research Council of Canada Wednesday. The BCRC is Canada’s national industry-led funding agency for beef, cattle and forage research. Feed prices have dropped significantly from their June highs, but unfavorable weather conditions … Read More

Total meat and poultry supplies in the nation’s freezers as of Sep. 30 were down from a month earlier and a year earlier, said the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Tuesday in its monthly Cold Storage report.   BEEF STOCKS DIP   Total pounds of beef in cold storage at the end of September came … Read More

The Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver last week projected average annual 2019 prices for steer calves, feeder steers and fed steers in the Southern Plains to decline from last year before rising slowly through 2021. The forecast was done using USDA Agricultural Marketing Service data, but was done without comment about why economists there … Read More

Large commodity investment funds, known in the trade as managed money, expanded their net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday but remain within striking distance of having an even position, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report on Friday. Managed money’s collective new cattle … Read More

Beef production has dipped below a year ago over the last couple of weeks, leading to some higher fed cattle prices and a widening of the already wide choice/select wholesale price spread from the USDA, said David Anderson, Extension agricultural economist for Texas A&M University, in a study for Extension agents from the Livestock Marketing … Read More

Various news agencies reported Wednesday that China was warning the US of “strong countermeasures” after a series of bills supporting the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong passed the House. The notice comes as the International Monetary Fund releases the results of a study saying the pace of global economic activity remains weak, in no small … Read More