Driven, by historically tight stocks, the prospect of a third La Nina in South America and rapid inflation spurred by historically cheap money, CBOT soybean prices surged through the spring and settled into an elevated plateau marked by pricing volatility typical of the summer months. After reaching a record high of $17.69 per bushel on…
Agricultural commodity prices have covered a lot of ground in the past year. Soybeans, for example, began the year at $13 before rising to $16 in May and ultimately coming back to $13 today. While a growing basis has provided additional support for North Carolina cash prices over the course of the year, falling prices…
The North Carolina Soybeans Producers Association is seeking applications for an International Leadership and Cultural Immersion program for 2022. The program is being coordinated by the IFYE (International Farm Youth Exchange) Association of the USA and made possible through a grant provided by the United Soybean Board. IFYE has been coordinating international agricultural immersion programs…
Although thought of as a commodity, there have long been discrete markets within the soybean complex. Explicitly, this would include markets and premiums for non-GM or organic soybeans and, more recently, for soybeans with novel fatty acid profiles, namely high-oleic. While these premiums have been clear and publicized there have also long been implicit “markets”,…
Every year, on March 31st the USDA releases its prospective plantings report – the first official glimpse into where acreage will shake out for the coming year. The report is based on grower surveys performed in the first two weeks of March and the timing of its release is a function of fairness, i.e. everyone…
The last several months have ushered in some exciting developments for North Carolina soybean exports. In January, Scoular announced they would be building a high-speed container loading facility at Wilmington, a reflection of the compelling economics of containerized exports from NC, and the culmination of a series of meetings and conversations between the Nebraska-based company…
The Executive Farm Management (EFM) program was started by NC State extension in 2017, and since then has enhanced the managerial and financial skillsets of hundreds of farmers in the Southeast. Typically the program is an intensive, 12 day event, held in person. While the program has delivered amazing results, in the past the price…
There are only four countries that export significant amounts of commodity soybean products – the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Although Brazil recently surpassed the United States in terms of production, with a growing world population, hungry for protein, there is no getting around the fact that the world needs US soybeans. In summer…
Over the past two years, the US agricultural sector has been hit by a trade war with China (April 2018-present), the global disruption of African Swine Fever (August 2018-present), a series of hurricanes beginning with Florence (September 2018), and flooding in the corn belt (June 2019) all aggravated by a strong dollar that has made…
On January 6th, 1995 a man named McArthur Wheeler, wearing no mask, robbed two Pittsburgh area banks in broad daylight, along with an accomplice. Images captured by bank security cameras showed the would-be robber holding a gun to the teller and in April of that year were shared on the 11 o’clock news. Tips came…