Flooding from the Salinas River forces the closure of a road at Salinas, California on Jan. 12, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Nathan Frandino)

California picks up debris from latest storm, braces for next

Also: Why all this rain won't end California's drought

Sacramento | Reuters — Rain-soaked Californians took advantage of a break in a weeks-long deluge to haul away dead trees, restore downed power lines and prepare new stacks of sandbags before another series of storms hits the state beginning Friday. In Monterey County along the state’s central coast, communities near the still-rising Salinas River were

A drone photo from the Sampona commune of Madagascar on Feb. 11, 2022, shows Zebu cattle drinking water from a large puddle created from Cyclone Batsirai. The island nation’s south has been experiencing severe drought for the past four years, putting it in danger of what the World Food Programme calls “the world’s first climate change famine.” (Photo: Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis)

Last year tied as world’s fifth-warmest on record, U.S. scientists say

Global CO2 emissions continue to rise

Brussels | Reuters — Last year was the world’s joint fifth-warmest on record and the last nine years were the nine warmest since pre-industrial times, putting the 2015 Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to 1.5 C in serious jeopardy, U.S. scientists said on Thursday. Last year tied with 2015 as the fifth-warmest year


Cattle receive supplemented feed at the Myhre farm near Crane River, Man.

2022 a series of unanticipated swings

YEAR IN REVIEW: From famine-to-flood moisture and derailed supply chains, there was plenty of volatility to go around

If last year was the bomb dropping, this year saw the aftermath. Farmers started the year by coming off one of the worst and widespread droughts in decades. For younger producers who weren’t farming in the 1980s, it was probably the worst drought they’ve ever seen. There were heartbreaking stories of herd dispersals, feed shortages

Drought hits Brazil corn in key southern state

Reuters – A drought is compromising corn fields in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state, which is now expected to produce 4.51 million tonnes of the cereal, according to a forecast by StoneX on Dec. 15. The revised output figure is less than a previously forecast 5.38 million tonnes of corn production for the state


Farmer Ignacio Bastanchuri, 65, sips a drink as he walks past a cow that died from drought at a farm in Navarro, Argentina, Dec. 5.

Arid wheat fields and dead cows

A snapshot of Argentina’s worst drought in decades reveals grim picture

Reuters – In the fields around the town of Navarro, in Argentina’s Pampas farm belt, the dried-out bed of a huge lagoon and decaying bodies of dead cattle are stark signs of a historic drought that is hammering crops and farmers like Ignacio Bastanchuri. Some 100 kilometres west of capital Buenos Aires, Navarro is one

CBOT January 2023 soybeans with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soybeans end higher with South America in focus

Wheat even; supplies from Black Sea region weigh against U.S. cold snap

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures added on Tuesday as traders watched South American weather, though prices could not break above resistance around US$15 a bushel. “We’re at a key level that’s stopped this market several times,” said Kristi Van Ahn-Kjeseth, chief operating officer at consulting firm Van Ahn and Co. “You get to


CBOT January 2023 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Rains in drought-hit Argentina pressure CBOT futures

Recession fears add pressure to markets, analysts say

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade grain and soybean futures slid on Monday after beneficial rains hit Argentina’s drought-stricken agricultural zone, analysts said. Argentina is the world’s leading exporter of processed soy, but its usually green Pampas plains have been hit by a historic drought that is preventing many farmers from planting their



(Medioimages/Photodisc/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: South America’s dry weather affecting soy complex

'We’re back to trading weather right now'

MarketsFarm — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s world agricultural supply and demand estimates (WASDE) report last week is taking a back seat to drought concerns in South America, according to a Chicago grains analyst. Terry Reilly from Futures International said Friday’s WASDE report had very little effect on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), which

The SWOT spacecraft is moved into a transport container inside the Astrotech facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base on Nov. 18, 2022. (Photo: USSF 30th Space Wing/Chris Okula)

NASA to conduct first global water survey from space

Data would bolster weather and climate forecasts

Los Angeles | Reuters — A NASA-led international satellite mission was set for blastoff from southern California early on Thursday on a major Earth science project to conduct a comprehensive survey of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers for the first time. Dubbed SWOT, short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography, the advanced radar satellite