Reading Time: 2 minutes Agrifood giant Cargill, one of the United States’ largest beef processors, said Thursday it will close its Plainview, Tex. beef plant on Feb. 1 in reaction to the smallest U.S. cattle supply in more than 60 years. "The U.S. cattle herd is at its lowest level since 1952. Increased feed costs resulting from the prolonged […] Read more
Cargill to shut Tex. beef plant as U.S. herd shrinks
U.S. farm law expires next week
Reading Time: 3 minutes Expiration of U.S. farm law on Oct. 1, shutting off dairy supports and putting 2013 crop subsidies in limbo, will cause pain for some farmers and frustration for many but programs like food stamps and crop insurance will roll on, analysts said. U.S. government funding is assured through March 2013 for many programs based on […] Read more
Cargill posts worst quarter since 1991
Reading Time: 4 minutes Cargill Inc. said Thursday its quarterly earnings fell 82 per cent in the giant U.S. agribusiness firm’s worst quarter in more than 20 years, hurt by volatile commodity markets and weak margins in key areas such as beef and oilseeds. Full-year results were also seen as disappointing, as both sales and profits from the company’s […] Read more
U.S. crops shrivel in record heat, rains expected
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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
Illinois farmers worried by extremely warm winter
Reading Time: 3 minutes 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
Reading Time: 3 minutes 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
Reading Time: 3 minutes 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
CME says storage plan helping wheat “converge;” traders scoff
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
U.S. grain firms tighten GMO policy, eye Syngenta corn
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
