The buyout was completed on Jan. 25 and increased the stake of Margarita Louis-Dreyfus’ Akira trust to 96.2 per cent of Louis Dreyfus Company Holdings B.V., she said in a statement.

“With a stable ownership structure in place, a clear strategy for our next growth phase and a strong management team, we are well positioned to write our next chapter and fulfill our purpose to create fair and sustainable value for the long term,” she said.

Financial terms of the buyout were not disclosed.

Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, who chairs Louis Dreyfus’ holding firm, announced in November she had secured financing for the share purchase, with a spokeswoman indicating it consisted of a bank loan.

Minority family shareholders asked in 2015 to sell a 16.6 per cent stake to Margarita Louis-Dreyfus’ Akira trust in a buyout estimated at US$800-$900 million.

Disagreement over the valuation of the stake brought the parties to court before they agreed to go to arbitration.

The obligation to purchase the shares, under a long-term arrangement established by Margarita Louis-Dreyfus’ husband Robert before his death in 2009, had increased financial pressure on the chairwoman as it coincided with a period of lower group profits and financial trouble at its Brazilian sugar subsidiary Biosev.

The family holding vehicle controls about 90 per cent of the Louis Dreyfus operating company, with the rest owned by staff.

Like other agricultural traders, Louis Dreyfus has sought to overcome declining margins for traditional buying and selling of crops by restructuring its activities.

After selling its metal trading business last year, it plans to exit the dairy sector by the middle of this year.

LDC’s announcement in September of the departure of both its chief executive and finance chief added to rumours about instability at the firm.

New CEO Ian McIntosh, however, has said the group’s performance improved during the second half, helped by healthy margins in soybeans.

— Reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz.

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Large inventories, low prices and limited volatility have curbed margins in the past two years for companies that buy, transport and process crops such as wheat, soybeans and rice.

The privately owned company, controlled by Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, said on Monday that 2016 core operating profit for its business segments fell to $1.2 billion from $1.4 billion in 2015 and $1.8 billion in 2014 (all figures US$).

Net sales fell to $49.8 billion from $55.7 billion in 2015, while shipped volumes were stable at 81 million tonnes.

Net income, however, rose to $305 million from $211 million, supported by favourable tax effects.

“Market fundamentals, including oversupply and slow demand growth, are expected to remain similar to 2016,” CEO Gonzalo Ramirez Martiarena said in an annual report.

“We expect our new strategy to really start showing in our financial performance in 2017.”

Dreyfus is part of the so-called ‘ABCD’ quartet of trading giants alongside Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and Cargill that dominate global flows of agricultural commodities.

Like its peers, it has been reorganizing activities and last year said it would seek partners to invest in its fertilizer, metals, juice and dairy businesses.

It did not give an update on its partnership plans in its annual results.

Detailing operational performance, Louis Dreyfus said its fertilizer business continued to face losses linked to weak demand from farmers faced with low crop prices.

Its orange juice unit, which has been hit by consumer concern about sugar content, saw improved results, while the metals business saw a significant rise in profit, it said.

Dreyfus has also reined in capital investments, reducing these last year to $354 million from $420 million in 2015.

Rivals such as ADM and Cargill have seen earnings from trading activities decline too, although better performances at other units have helped boost their group profit.

In addition to the potential sale of stakes in non-core activities, Russian-born Margarita Louis-Dreyfus has previously raised the possibility of bringing in an outside investor at group level.

The exercising of a put option by minority family shareholders to sell most of their 20 percent stake in the group’s holding firm has also fuelled speculation she will seek a new shareholder.

— Gus Trompiz is a commodities correspondent for Reuters in Paris.

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Most equities and commodities, including wheat, corn and soybeans, dropped sharply in trade the day after the June 23 referendum, while traditional safe-haven investments like gold and the U.S. dollar rallied as investors came to terms with the referendum’s surprise outcome.

“Make no mistake about it: Brexit was a huge change in the macros,” Charlie Sernatinger, global head of grain futures at ED&F Man Capital, said in a note to clients. “It is going to change a lot of hedge fund ideas about the dollar and how to position themselves in commodities.”

Reaction to the British vote added pressure on grains that were already weakened by rain relief for corn and soybean crops in the U.S. Midwest. As the week ended, corn was down 12 per cent, its biggest weekly decline in three years. Soybeans were down 5.6 per cent and wheat was down 3.3 per cent.

“The upset of sorts… has the global marketplace in turmoil, with the U.S. dollar spiking and commodities getting killed,” Matt Zeller, director of market information at INTL FCStone said in a note to clients.

In the longer term, the narrowly won Brexit vote jeopardizes the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and is expected to put a similar negotiation between the EU and the U.S. on ice, analysts said.

“If you’re a processor looking at the 80,000 tonnes of pork we were supposed to get under the CETA deal, maybe don’t break ground on the new plant just yet,” said the University of Guelph agricultural economist Al Mussell in an interview.

If you can consider the agreement to be a spreadsheet, removing Britain has changed every value in every cell.

“That’s going to make for some uncertain times, some unclear numbers and delays. It will also likely mean any of the positive aspect of the deal will be pushed back, though how far is anyone’s guess,” he said.

“It really is an unprecedented situation,” Mussell said. “The agriculture and food sector, as well as other industries of course, is vulnerable to major socio-political shifts, and that could well be what we’re undergoing here.”

He said exit negotiations will be difficult. If the EU takes a hard line against the U.K., it could make the situation worse. If it deals too softly with the British, other member-nations may also choose to exit.

“They’re really on a knife-edge,” Mussell said.

One strategy would be for the U.K. to leave the EU, but more or less simultaneously sign a free trade agreement with it. That could be the best possible outcome, but Mussell admits no one can assign a reliable probability for it happening.

On the other end of the spectrum is catastrophe, something akin to the economic crisis of the 1930s. It might seem a stretch, but Mussell said seemingly innocuous protectionist moves at the time are ultimately seen as the match that lit the fuse and exacerbated a bad situation.

“We could be looking at something similar here,” Mussell said. “Most economists now say the Smoot-Hawley tariff, in 1932, is what really caused the Great Depression, and nobody at the time could have predicted that.”

Canadian trade analyst Peter Clarke said the Brexit vote sends a signal to EU governments about voter frustration and anger. “I expect that the commission will be far too busy trying to shape a new relationship with the U.K. to focus on CETA or TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the U.S. and EU). Even if the U.K. only pulls the trigger in October, work and consultations should have started yesterday,” he said.

Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada, said in addition to the impact on trade deals such as CETA, there are also a number of key decisions on agriculture products, such as relicensing glyphosate and approval of GMO soybeans that could be sideswiped by the Brexit vote.

“It remains to be seen if the EU continues to be engaged in these processes, or if they become more inward focused,” Dahl said in a telephone interview.

Whether this is a short-term blip or a more meaningful fork in the road is still unclear, he said.

Rick White, CEO of the Can­adian Canola Growers Association, happened to be in Germany for a meeting in the days before the vote, which included representatives from major EU member nations including the U.K., France and Germany.

“There was a real air of uncertainty,” White said. “The German and French delegates were very clear the U.K. needed to stay in, and the U.K. delegates were saying nobody knew how the vote would go.”

Now that an exit vote is a reality, White expects the uncertainty to continue for the foreseeable future. For U.K. and EU residents that means no clear picture of how things will settle out. For farmers there it will mean questions about the fate of the bloc’s Common Agriculture Policy and whether the U.K. will move to replace it. For Canadian farmers it means the CETA deal is now up in the air, and that policy decisions like relicensing glyphosate or approving GM soybeans drop down the agenda.

“EU politician are likely to be very preoccupied with managing this situation, and issues that are important to us will drop down the agenda,” White said.

He also noted that the U.K. frequently acted as a moderating influence on EU policy, particularly policy affecting agriculture.

“In a lot of ways they were almost an advocate for countries like Canada,” White said. “They had a similar view of adopting technology and making science-based decisions. Without them, there is the risk the EU will veer a bit further in this direction.”

White said he’ll be watching the trendline of the market gyrations, rather than the day-to-day swings, to get a clearer picture of how things are playing out.

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Last month, Danny Penner issued a discussion document calling for the merger of existing commodity groups to make them more efficient and effective.

“In person, I have not yet had one board member… that has said, ‘This is crazy and we can’t get it done,’” said Penner. “They’ve all said it makes sense.”

However, no group is officially endorsing his plan, and that’s not surprising, he said.

“I understand there is turf protection and things like that,” said Penner, a former president of the Manitoba Pulse Growers. “It’s very comfortable to do what you’ve always been doing.”

In his discussion paper, Penner proposes checkoff-funded commodity groups also funnel money into what he’s calling the “New Farm Organization,” which would focus on issues common to all the groups.

“The core concept of One New Farm Organization has proven success in the case of Grain Farmers of Ontario,” the paper states. “It’s our hope to build on what they’ve created and eventually end up with just one, fully national farm organization.”

Improving efficiency

The current system is neither efficient nor as effective as a single group would be, the paper argues.

“You can’t count how many different organizations speak on behalf of farmers these days, let alone get a quick, clear answer,” he wrote. “(T)here’s unnecessary overlap in administration… Just think what one organization could accomplish by taking the best of what every individual group is doing today and combining resources.”

The paper proposes rolling all commodity groups in Western Canada into three entities representing cereals, oilseeds, and pulse-special crops.

Each group would collect and administer the checkoff from their own crops, spending some of the money on their specific interests and giving a portion to fund the New Farm Organization.

“One hundred per cent producer governance is core to this idea, but the process of identifying specific farmers to sit on each board will be a matter for discussion,” he wrote.

Penner proposes each of the three commodity groups and the New Farm Organization have their own boards of directors, and that Western Canada be divided into six districts — northern and southern Alberta; north, central and southern Saskatchewan; and Manitoba. (Two additional districts could be included later from Eastern Canada.)

The number of votes for each farmer would be tied to the amount of checkoff contributed.

Election process

Six farmers would be elected to each of the boards, which would also have its own chief executive officer. In addition to six elected farmers, the New Farm Organization’s board would include the presidents of the cereals, oilseeds and pulse/special crops commodity groups.

Each region would have four farmer representatives in total — one on each of the commodity groups and one on the New Farm Organization.

“The work of the commissions (commodity groups) and the New Farm Organization would fall under directorates such as research, policy, markets, education, environment and logistics, with a focus on branding and advocacy of Canadian crop farming systems, guiding investment in agriculture to its best possible use, and communicating key messages from other stakeholders back to primary producers,” Penner wrote.

Farm organizations funded directly by members, such as the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, or the Keystone Agricultural Producers, which has a checkoff, would continue to operate independently, Penner said in an interview. But they could also contribute to policy development within the New Farm Organization, he added.

Penner was to present his proposal to Canadian Federation of Agriculture vice-president Humphrey Banack and the Keystone Agricultural Producers’ executive on April 1.

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“Trade is becoming a front line for conflicts over resources — at a time when the global economy is more dependent than ever on trade in resources,” states a report from London-based Chatham House.

“Higher prices and higher volatility have increased the stakes within and between countries.

It recommends forming a group of the top 30 resource producers and consumers to work together to iron out sharp price changes and reduce protectionism.

As only eight countries produce the majority of the world’s commodities and demand keeps rising, prices are very prone to fluctuations and this, rather than outright scarcity, is set to be the major difficulty, the think-tank said.

The size of fluctuations in commodity prices has more than tripled since 2005 compared to the period from 1980, says the report, citing International Monetary Fund data.

“If you look at what the initial reasons were for people hitting the streets in North Africa during the Arab Spring a lot of it started off with people being angry about the price of bread,” said Rob Bailey, one of the report’s authors.

Unlike previous waves of volatility, the current period of fluctuating commodity prices is not driven by a fundamental crisis such as a world war or great depression, he said.

“We don’t have that kind of obvious crucial factor this time — it appears to be an actual structural change in the way the global economy has organized itself,” he said.

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The unloading of risk by investors was also evident in canola, as the U.S. government’s dealing with its “fiscal cliff” (a popular term used to describe the conundrum facing the U.S. government, referring to the effect of a number of laws which, if unchanged, could result in tax increases, spending cuts, and a corresponding reduction in the budget deficit in 2013) made more than a few people nervous.

Chart-based selling by speculative and commodity fund accounts also added to the downward price slide experienced by canola during the reporting period.

Some bargain hunting by commercials helped to slow the price drop in canola. A lot of that interest was said to be covering old export business to Japan that was to be shipped early in the January to March period. Domestic processors were also scale-down buyers during the reporting period, but deteriorating profit margins were slowly dissipating that buying interest. Some participants noted crush margins for canola were at the lowest they have seen over the past four years.

The tight canola supply situation in Canada also continued to provide a bit of a firm floor for canola. The reluctance of Prairie farmers to give up that canola, unless cash flow dictates, helped to restrict the price declines.

Market players commented that it appears the price tops for canola have now been established, and while there could still be some minor upward action in values, the push to higher ground will be limited given the bearish soybean scenario developing in South America and even to some extent in the U.S.

Milling wheat futures lost ground on the ICE trading platform, but there were absolutely no trades seen. Much of that downward price action was associated with the arbitraging of values to match the sell-off seen in U.S. wheat futures. Barley and durum contracts were unchanged and untraded.

Some significant losses were posted in CBOT soybean futures during the reporting period, with values moving from almost US$15 a bushel to down in the US$13.80 range, basis the January contract.

A lot of the downward price action was associated with the increased supply of soybeans in the U.S. and the world, in projections from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The planting of the soybean crops in Argentina and Brazil was also said to be doing extremely well and crop production prospects there were extremely large.

The declines in soybeans were also a function of risk unloading by investors who do not want to hold any kind of positions in the futures market, given the uncertainty facing the U.S. government and its economic problems. The penetration of technical support levels on the way down amplified the price drop.

Cancelled purchases

News that China has cancelled some significant amounts of U.S. soybean purchases also added to the bearish sentiment. The China National Grain and Oils Information Centre, a government think-tank, reported China’s importers have cancelled shipments of around 600,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans scheduled for delivery in December and January. Poor Chinese soybean-crushing profit margins were linked to the cancellation of the purchases. There were ideas that additional purchases of U.S. soybeans will be cancelled in the next while.

With the improved South American soybean outlook and the likely replenishing of global soybean stocks, some suggestion has been made that CBOT soybean values are destined to move significantly lower by spring.

Some commodity analysts are of the belief that CBOT soybean futures will be trading around the US$11-per-bushel level by that time. One or two, however, felt the move to US$11 per bushel will actually represent a rally from values that were seen being well below that level. I don’t want to scare anyone off and this is definitely nothing more than speculation, but the scuttlebutt in the market was that soybean values in the U.S. could retrace all the way back to the US$8-per-bushel area.

In making that kind of projection, the sources point to an idea that the USDA is hiding supply in its monthly numbers and the supply base will continuously increase over the next couple of months — and when combined with the record soybean crop in South America, supplies would thus be more than abundant to meet any kind of demand.

Corn futures on the CBOT also lost some ground during the week, but the sell-off was nowhere as large as in soybeans or even wheat. The absence of export demand, combined with the declines in soybeans, helped to fuel the downward price slide.

The losses in corn were offset by a late-week announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it has decided to deny a request to waive ethanol-blending requirements in the U.S. This could have reduced demand for corn even further in the U.S. Concerns about tight U.S. corn supplies also helped to restrict the price drop.

The price trend in wheat futures on the Chicago, Minneapolis and Kansas City exchanges was definitely down. Declines were linked to the complete lack of export demand that has come forward for U.S. wheat, with weekly data from the USDA confirming the lack of sales. Chart-based liquidation contributed to the price weakness, as did the selling off of futures positions by concerned investors.

The losses in wheat were tempered somewhat by the absence of moisture in the U.S. winter Wheat Belt. Continued ideas that world wheat output in some of the major growing regions of the globe are struggling also slowed the price declines.

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Domestic processors also continued to be good buyers of canola during the week as they continue to stock up on supplies in order to meet sales commitments already on the books. The weakening of the Canadian dollar was also seen as conducive to stimulating some fresh end-user demand.

The upside in canola was restricted by the improved weather for the planting of the soybean crops in Argentina and Brazil. Cash bids on the Canadian Prairies have also seen some improvement which attracted farmer deliveries and in turn further tempered the upward price potential.

The larger-than-anticipated soybean harvest in the U.S. also prevented canola from posting significant advances.

The market analysis branch of Agriculture Canada during the week confirmed that supplies of canola in Canada at the end of the 2012-13 (Aug.-Jul.) crop year will indeed be extremely tight. Canola carry-over at the end of the current season was forecast at 450,000 tonnes. In September the government agency had been forecasting canola carry-over at 675,000 tonnes, but that was also based on ideas that production of the commodity would be in the 15.41-million-tonne range. Canola carry-over in Canada at the end of the 2011-12 season totalled 788,000 tonnes.

However, with Statistics Canada saying that canola output was only 13.359 million tonnes this summer the scramble to cover export and domestic commitments is on. With the tight ending stocks picture for canola comes a downgrading in those estimates.

Ag Canada had been anticipating that canola exports from Canada would be a record 8.8 million tonnes back in September, which would compare with the year-ago level when a record 8.7 million tonnes were shipped offshore. But with the lower output, Canada was only seen exporting 7.2 million tonnes of canola in 2012-13.

The domestic usage forecast didn’t take as large a hit as the export projection, but it was also adjusted downwards. Ag Canada is now expecting that 6.623 million tonnes of canola will be processed domestically, down from the 6.847 million estimated back in September and well below the record 7.315 million processed in 2011-12.

With the lower Canadian canola production forecast, market participants definitely had visions of strong values moving forward. However, while canola should be able to hold some kind of premium, the upside continues to be limited by the fact alternative oilseeds, that can be purchased cheaper, remain readily available.

Wheat contracts languish

Very little activity occurred in the milling wheat, durum and barley contracts on the ICE Canada platform during the week. Much of the price movement seen in milling wheat came at the hands of the exchange arbitraging values in order to keep pace with the U.S. wheat markets.

The new barley contract has not seen any actual trades since September.

Soybean futures at the CBOT pushed higher during the week with continued strong demand from the domestic and export sectors behind some of the strength. Ongoing concerns that supplies of the commodity continue to be on the tight side, also influenced some of the price strength. The U.S. soybean harvest pace also slowed somewhat, which in turn provided an opportunity for values to move up. Chart-related speculative and commodity fund demand also provided some support.

The upturn in soybean futures was restricted by the improved weather for the anticipated record area that will be planted in South America in the near future.

Corn futures on the CBOT managed to post minor gains during the reporting period. Concerns about the tight supply outlook provided some minimal support with spillover strength from the advances seen in wheat and soybeans helping to fuel some of the upward price action.

The complete absence of fresh demand from end-users limited the ability of the commodity to move to higher ground.

Ukraine ban expected

Wheat futures on the CBOT, MGEX and KCBT experienced a push to the upside during the latest week, with some of that upward price action linked to values correcting after a series of declines. Some of the upward price action in U.S. wheat values also came from reports that Ukraine was running out of exportable wheat supplies and may have to institute a ban on movement offshore in the near future. There were ideas that the ban could occur as early as November.

If that does happen, industry participants are anticipating that demand for U.S. wheat will perk up and result in some much-needed sales being put on the books. Wheat exports from the Black Sea region generally have been made at a huge discount to U.S. wheat values, and with the export pace from that corner of the world slowing, there are ideas that prices have room to move to the upside.

Industry news out of Chicago this week was the fact that the CBOT was considering reducing its grain-trading hours. While the consideration is still very preliminary, market participants in Canada and the U.S. have already indicated a preference for a shorter workday.

The CBOT, which is owned by CME Group Inc., was expected to conduct a survey of market users regarding the trading hours in the very near future.

The CBOT expanded its electronic trading cycle to 21 hours a session from in May in reaction to a threat from rival IntercontinentalExchange Inc., which launched look‑alike corn, soy and wheat contracts.

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“I’ve just come from Japan this week and we are working very hard with the Japanese to try to have the CWB in a very prominent place with regard to supplying the Japanese industry with milling wheat to the point where I think they want the CWB to be their main supplier and we hope to be able to do that,” CWB president and CEO Ian White told farmers March 30. “That’s one of the big premium markets in the world.”

CWB wheat exports to Japan have averaged 1.2 million tonnes annually the last 10 years. But when the market opens Aug. 1, Japan can buy Canadian wheat from any number of sellers, said Roland farmer Walter Krapp.

“The Japanese value long-term relationships,” White said in response and the CWB has that with Japan. “We know it’s a competitive world and we are going to have to compete in that world, but they are saying to us that they will give us the first look at the business, particularly if we can deliver them the quality and the continuity that they are used to.”

White said the CWB might not be able to compete in commodity markets where buyers focus on getting the lowest price.

“We understand that and we will be competing in there where we need to, but we will also try to keep away from those markets where we can,” White said.

Glencore is a commodity trader, he said. The company that wants to by Viterra usually sells on a multiple origin basis, allowing it to source wheat where it’s the cheapest.

“We’ll be selling the grain that we take from Canada and selling to customers who value quality,” White said. “So we see our place very much more down the end of the market… dealing with customers that value that and who will deal with a company like the CWB and generally pay a bit more because we have a relationship with them, we know them and we can satisfy their needs. There is a differentiation in the market.”

The CWB has the authority to buy and sell wheat produced outside of Canada, but doesn’t expect to do so often, White said. Sometimes customers want lower-quality wheat to blend with Canadian wheat and now the CWB can provide both.

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AgriStability and AgriInvest administrators have made significant changes to the commodity code lists included in the 2011 forms and guide packages. These changes are part of an ongoing effort to simplify reporting requirements for producers and to remove duplicate or redundant codes, the administration says in a release.

Commodity codes are used when completing the AgriStability and AgriInvest application forms to identify sales and purchases of specific commodities.

Farmers or accountants are advised to be sure to insert the correct commodity codes when completing applications to avoid unnecessary delays.

The revised commodity code list is included in the 2011 forms and guide packages. It can also be found online on the Forms page of the program websites: www.agr.gc.ca/agristability www.agr.gc.ca/agriinvest.

Repayment deadline extended

Manitoba farmers now have an extra year to pay back any program overpayments without interest charges.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced Dec. 19 that the interest-free period for overpayments under AgriStability and its predecessor, the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program, will now run until Jan. 1, 2013.

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You know commodity trading conditions are tough when even firms that sit on both the buy and sell sides of a market still suffer hefty losses.

Such was the case with 140-year-old agribusiness giant Cargill, which recently reported a 66 per cent drop in earnings in the latest quarter over year-ago levels due to global economic uncertainty and turbulent markets. But Cargill was far from being the only agribusiness on the receiving end of a thumping in the July-September quarter, which goes to show that the old adage that such firms thrive during times of high and volatile crop prices doesn t always ring true.

Cargill s profit-drop shocker captured the attention it did because it highlighted how even expert traders can get stumped from time to time. After all, if a fully integrated agri-giant that controls the entire stream of agricultural production from grain acquisition through to processing and distribution can t make money in these markets, how can anyone else?

But all the agribusiness majors including Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Monsanto, and Deere &Co. suffered share price setbacks during the three months to October 1 as uncertain global markets took a bite out of corporate performance in the sector.

Even Glencore arguably the most famous commodities trading firm in the world and supposedly still in a honeymoon period with investors following its mid-May IPO couldn t swim against the bearish tides. The Swiss-based outfit lost more than 17 per cent in share value over the quarter and at one point in August traded more than 34 per cent below its IPO launch price amid the broad commodity market meltdown.

Of course, much of the weakness seen in commodities businesses merely reflected the downswing in the broader stock market over the summer. But in many ways agri-related firms performed more poorly than the broader stock market, thanks to the accompanying decline in the commodities, especially corn. Indeed, a rebound in corn prices is again pushing stock prices for big ag firms.

In recent sessions, nearly all of the firms that underperformed the stock market during the late-September corn slump have recently outperformed their benchmarked peers thanks to corn s robust performance. (The obvious exception has been Bunge, which is more focused on soybeans.)

In all, the fate of agribusinesses is clearly tied up with the performance and price direction of the crops in which they are all heavily involved. And given the ongoing need for continued crop production expansion on nearly all fronts as the planet grapples with declining crop inventories, the prospects for firms dedicated to the production and distribution of these commodities should continue to improve as long as crop prices remain on a rising trajectory.

Rough patches such as those seen in recent months will still appear from time to time, but as long as the world generally consumes more grain and oilseeds than it produces, the longer-term bias of agribusiness earnings should stay to the upside.

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