(Smithfield.com)

Smithfield shuts South Dakota pork plant over COVID-19

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, is temporarily closing a massive plant at Sioux Falls, S.D., the company said Thursday, after more than 80 workers there tested positive for coronavirus. The shutdown is the latest disruption to the U.S. food supply chain from the pandemic and comes as grocery store […] Read more

(USDA.gov via Flickr)

USDA to probe surging beef prices versus falling cattle prices

Tyson says will co-operate with department's investigation

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Agriculture Department will investigate why a surge in beef prices because of coronavirus-related hoarding did not translate into higher cattle prices for farmers, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Wednesday. The investigation adds scrutiny on the small group of meat companies such as Tyson Foods and Cargill that dominate […] Read more


CBOT May 2020 corn with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn slumps as ethanol production hits decade low

Improved U.S. wheat crop ratings raise expectations of bumper supplies

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago corn futures slumped on Wednesday, giving up part of the previous session’s gains, as the U.S. government reported the U.S. ethanol industry saw a near-decade low in weekly production amid massive stocks. Wheat futures followed in mid-day trading, as investors squared up their positions ahead of Thursday’s world agriculture supply […] Read more

CME May 2020 feeder cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Bargain-buying investors rally cattle futures, again

CME June lean hogs down on day

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle futures surged for a second straight session on Wednesday, as investors kept snapping up deep discounts in futures prices, traders said. Lean hog future prices slipped, as concern continued to mount over a glut of domestic pork supplies and uncertainty on how quickly the U.S. sow herd is shrinking. […] Read more


CBOT May 2020 corn with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn rally sputters, wheat slides on growing conditions

Soybeans up, eyes on South American crop

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — A rally in Chicago corn futures on Tuesday that was buoyed by a run-up in the energy market sputtered by day’s end as crude oil prices slipped. May corn futures climbed nearly two per cent in mid-day trading, but cut gains in half as crude oil prices closed down for a […] Read more

CME June 2020 live cattle with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Futures surge as investors snap up discounts

June live cattle limit up off Monday's limit-down drop

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. livestock futures surged on Tuesday — with live cattle futures up to their 4.5-cent expanded limit — as steep discounts in futures prices over the current cash markets wooed investors to buy back in, traders said. Feeder cattle also jumped to their normal trading day limits, as the sector overall […] Read more


Migrant workers clean fields in California’s Salinas Valley on March 30, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

Canadian, U.S. farms face crop losses on foreign worker delays

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Mandatory coronavirus quarantines of seasonal foreign workers in Canada could hurt that country’s fruit and vegetable output this year, and travel problems related to the pandemic could also leave U.S. farmers with fewer workers than usual. Foreign labour is critical to farm production in both countries, where domestic workers shun the […] Read more

CME June 2020 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures drop as pandemic roils markets

Technical buying lifts hogs, feeder cattle

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live cattle futures plunged to their daily trading limit on Monday — with prices for the front-month contract hitting the lowest seen since December 2009 — as beef inventories remain robust with much of the U.S. restaurant industry shuttered due to the pandemic. April live cattle were down the 4.5-cent […] Read more


Farmer Anil Salunkhe feeds strawberries to a cow during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the Satara district in India’s Maharashtra state on April 1, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Rajendra Jadhav)

How COVID-19 is upending global food supply chains

Cows fed strawberries in India, watermelons rot in U.S., okra not reaching Canada

Reading Time: 5 minutes Satara/Singapore/London | Reuters — In the fertile Satara district in western India, farmers are putting their cattle on an unorthodox diet: Some feed iceberg lettuce to buffalo. Others feed strawberries to cows. It’s not a treat. They can either feed their crops to animals or let them spoil. And other farmers are doing just that […] Read more

(Todd Rosenberg photo via KraftFoodsGroup.com)

Kraft Heinz cuts output at three plants, adds mac and cheese shifts

Reading Time: < 1 minute Sao Paulo | Reuters — Kraft Heinz said Friday it has moved to significantly reduce production at three plants providing restaurant supplies amid the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, but its CEO noted the company has added shifts at others to meet demand for packaged foods such as macaroni and cheese. Speaking in a video presentation hosted […] Read more