Ag Insights

May 1, 2025

Situation: The U.S. dairy export industry is experiencing a shift in product demands by key export destinations, with aging populations, slowing population growth and maturing economies.

April 24, 2025

Situation: Digester construction has boomed thanks to lucrative credits and tax incentives for converting biomethane into renewable natural gas. Now some of those tax incentives are

April 24, 2025

Situation Opinions on bloom have been varied, with some noting mostly dry conditions while others are focusing on the sporadic rain and hail the Central Valley

April 24, 2025

After a quarter with all-time record-high prices for all weight classes of cattle and the annual Cattle Inventory report confirming that liquidation continued in all classes

April 24, 2025

Farmers should stay patient and disciplined. Patient for old crop: I expect continued price rallies for old-crop corn driven by export sales strength and tight global

April 24, 2025

Milk production maintained a sideways trajectory in 2024, finishing the year slightly below 2023. Dairy markets are starting 2025 in reasonably good shape, well positioned for

April 24, 2025

Sow Slaughter Trends Change With the Calendar Sow slaughter trends since the December USDA Hogs and Pigs report changed dramatically. Slaughter was 7% larger than a

April 24, 2025

Background: The market has been unkind to sorghum. Crop year to date through February, exports to China are 70% behind the five-year average pace. And while

April 24, 2025

Headed into the 2025 growing season, there are two big, unanswered questions for the soybean market: How many acres will be planted? How many U.S. soybeans

April 24, 2025

High interest rates make the prospect of holding more inventory more costly, leading to lower contracted tonnage. Situation The first report released each year for California’s

April 24, 2025

Background The U.S. wheat industry is stuck at “average.” Relative to the 15-year average: The old-crop 2024/25 U.S. stocks-to-use ratio is only 2% higher The amount

April 24, 2025

The premium and luxury segments saw smaller losses than the value segment. For the fourth consecutive year, wine sales volumes fell in 2024. However, the pace

April 17, 2025

Over the past 18 months, the industry has been consumed with cow slaughter and the lack of heifer retention. We have talked about what’s holding back

April 17, 2025

By Matt Clark, Senior Rural Economy Analyst In “Best Trade Friends Forever?: Part 1” we assessed the export risk profiles of major U.S. crops as the

April 17, 2025

With around 70% of production exported annually, the U.S. tree nut industry relies heavily on export markets for growth. Key Takeaways Situation: The California tree nut

April 9, 2025

President Trump, on April 3, announced a range of reciprocal tariffs with the overarching, stated goal of rebalancing global trade relationships. The U.S. will apply a

April 2, 2025

By Ben Laine, Senior Dairy Analyst Dairy markets are experiencing significant changes, and some early market impacts are beginning to appear. Two additional major cheese processing

March 28, 2025

Background On December 21, 2024, Congress passed the American Relief Act of 2025, authorizing up to $10 billion in economic assistance to producers and about $20

March 28, 2025

With spring crop insurance decisions behind farmers, all eyes next turn to the April 15 deadline for enrollment in Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss

March 19, 2025

In a time of tight supplies for beef cattle and slim margins on dairies, dairy producers saw an opportunity to breed more of their cows to