In January, the U.S. and China ceremoniously signed the Phase 1 trade agreement. This was a positive development for U.S. agriculture, especially on the grains side. While there was ambiguity about the metrics and some doubt about China’s ability to meet those goals, the consensus was that China would be buying a lot of U.S. […]

On Thursday, USDA released its latest supply and demand estimates for June, and as expected, most of the changes were minor tweaks. A 50 million bushel (mb) reduction in ethanol demand for corn and a 25 mb cut in soybean exports showed up, as expected. The slightly bullish surprise of the day was a lower-than-expected […]

Federal aid in the form of Market Facilitation Program (MFP) and Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments have increased returns and the financial stability of grain farms in 2018, 2019, and likely in 2020.  However, corn and soybean returns have been low since 2013, when the growth of corn use in ethanol plateaued.  Recent declines […]