What Does the Federal Fund Rate Increases at May FOMC Meeting Mean?
During the May 3rd Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the FOMC voting members raised the Federal Funds Rate by another 25 basis points; making the target Federal Funds Rate between 5% and 5.25%. This Federal Reserve has consistently increased the Federal Funds Rate during each FOMC meeting for over a year.
Read MoreWhy is Managing Strategic Risk So Important in Production Agriculture?
Strategic risk is difficult to quantify. Despite this fact, it is important to prepare risks impacting U.S. farms and build resilience.
Read MoreU.S. Corn Exports Struggle to Meet USDA’s Weak Export Forecast
Seasonally, U.S. corn exports tend to peak in the spring and weaken into the summer months. Although weekly corn export shipments have improved since late winter, they have not increased enough to offset weak exports last fall and especially during much of the winter.
Read MoreProducer Sentiment and Farm Growth
There are numerous reasons why a farm may want to expand including the following: reduce costs, improve profit margins, improve…
Read MoreFarmer sentiment improves; less pessimism over interest rates
Purdue ag economists James Mintert and Michael Langemeier share some insight into the results of the April 2023 Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer survey. Farmer sentiment improved modestly in April as the Ag Economy Barometer reversed a two-month decline up 6 points to a reading of 123. This month’s survey was conducted from April 10-14, 2023.
Read MoreCritical Juncture for Crop Basis & Your Marketing Strategy for the Remainder of ’22 Crop
On this episode of the Purdue Commercial AgCast, Nathanael Thompson and James Mintert explore what’s been taking place in the Eastern Corn Belt on corn basis, the May/July CBT corn spread, as well as the July/September CBT corn spread, and discuss how you might pursue some marketing strategies for the remainder of the ’22 crop that you might have in storage.
Read MoreAgility and Absorption Capacity
Over the past several years, maintaining agility and absorption capacity has been a solid mechanism to deal with strategic risk. Absorption capacity has enabled farms to maintain some sense of stability with market turbulence caused by increases in input prices, Covid-19, trade restrictions, higher rental rates, fluctuations in labor availability, ongoing geopolitical conflict, and market downturns. As farms face these obstacles there is also a greater need for agility, including innovative techniques that can reduce business costs, enable workers to shift assignments to meet changing business needs, and diversify to reduce risk.
Read MoreU.S. Corn Exports to Key Customers Have Been Weak
In its most recent World Agricultural Supply & Demand Estimates (WASDE) report published on April 11th, USDA estimated that 2022 crop corn exports would total 1.85 billion bushels, equal to about 13% of U.S. production. If realized the 1.85 billion bushel forecast would result in the second lowest export total of the last decade and would be down sharply.
Read MoreApril 2023 Crop Basis Update
April 13, 2023 crop basis update on forward contract bids, corn and soybean basis outlook, and new crop corn and soybean futures.
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