“I smell complete bullshit — it’s a terrible idea.” – Gunter Jochum.

Dollars in the dirt

Big Ag pays farmers for control of their soil-bound carbon

Reuters – The biggest global agriculture companies are competing on a new front: enticing farmers to join programs that keep atmosphere-warming carbon dioxide in the soil. Fertilizer producers Nutrien and Yara, agribusiness giant Cargill, and seed and chemical companies Corteva and Bayer are paying growers for every acre of land dedicated to trapping carbon underground,



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Bunge raises 2021 profit outlook on higher food, renewable fuel demand

Bunge Ltd reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter results and raised its full-year profit outlook on Wednesday for a third time this year amid improved demand for food and renewable fuel as pandemic restrictions have eased. Although volumes in the U.S. agricultural commodities trader’s core agribusiness and its refined and specialty oils units were down, robust oilseed processing


The Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018.
 Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

ADM profit more than doubles on strong crush margins, vegoil demand

Global grain trader Archer-Daniels-Midland Co said on Tuesday its third-quarter profit more than doubled, as strong oilseed crushing margins and rising vegetable oil demand boosted its core agricultural services and oilseeds unit. The Chicago-based U.S. grains merchant is anticipating the favorable demand and margin environment to continue supporting results in the fourth quarter and foresees

U.S. seeks to conserve more farmland as crop prices climb

U.S. seeks to conserve more farmland as crop prices climb

Farmers say it’s going to be a tough sell in a profitable market

Reuters – The Biden administration hopes to convince farmers to set aside four million more acres of land for conservation this year by raising payment rates in an environmental program, but farmers said surging crop prices make it a tougher sell. The push to enrol more land into the 36-year-old Conservation Reserve Program is a part of


Hackers are a growing headache for the agriculture sector.

Cybersecurity incident takes down Iowa farm services firm

Biden administration is making these threats a high priority

Reuters – Iowa-based farm services provider NEW Cooperative Inc. said on Sept. 20 its systems were offline to contain a “cybersecurity” incident just as the U.S. Farm Belt gears up for harvest. The co-operative operates grain storage elevators in the top U.S. corn-producing state, buys crops from farmers, sells fertilizer and other chemicals needed to

CME October 2021 lean hogs (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hogs rise, live cattle slip ahead of USDA reports

Cattle on feed top trade estimates

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures climbed on Friday, largely supported by positioning ahead of a key hog inventory report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) after the close, analysts said. Higher cash pork prices and the still-wide discount of futures to cash hog prices were also supportive.


(Viktorcvetkovic/E+/Getty Images)

Minnesota grain handler targeted in ransomware attack

Company instead issuing handwritten tickets for grain deliveries

Chicago | Reuters — Minnesota agricultural co-operative Crystal Valley said it had been targeted in a ransomware attack in recent days, making it the second Midwestern farm-services provider in a week to be forced to take systems offline due to cybersecurity incidents. Crystal Valley, which sells supplies like fertilizer to farmers and buys their crops,

CBOT December 2021 corn (candlesticks) with 20-, 100- and 200-day moving averages (yellow, green and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy jump despite rising harvest as oil, equities gain

Accelerating harvest amid dry U.S. forecast caps gains

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures rebounded on Wednesday from four sessions of declines in a technical and fund-buying bounce fueled by rising crude oil and equities markets, more than offsetting seasonal pressure from an accelerating U.S. harvest. Soybean and wheat futures also advanced as global economic jitters eased and the dollar weakened. The