Good morning.
If you're waiting until the last possible minute to buy flowers for Valentine's Day (psst... it's today), we have some advice for you.
Yes, we're an ag newsletter—but flowers are an important piece of the ag puzzle. Especially today!
So check out a few tips (straight from a horticulture professor) about choosing the best flowers, keeping them fresh, and the best alternatives to roses.
Here's hoping you find some sweet deals,
The News:
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Brazil Vying for Corn Export Crown |
Brazil vs. the U.S.: the corn export crown is on the line.
The USDA has raised its Brazilian corn export forecast for 2022-23 to 50M metric tons—which just edges out the estimate for the U.S., at 48.9M tons. This hasn’t happened since the drought of 2012-13, but it might not be the last.
Brazil has a lot going for it. Exports are sitting at 25M tons of corn already, which is more than any other year. Brazilian currency is weak. And they have more land: it’s possible to plant 18M more acres without affecting the Amazon.
China is buying Brazilian corn, which only increases their share. Not to mention U.S. exports are looking lackluster, production was down, and Mississippi River transportation miseries drove prices up and volumes down.
Déjà vu, anyone? Brazil surpassed the U.S. for soybean exports in 2017. Will the corn export crown end the U.S. grain export reign?
Zoom out: The U.S. can continue to increase yield to make up the difference, but there’s no more land to plant. Meanwhile, Russia could add 18M more acres. The Ukraine war will keep grain exports down for a while.
The drought in Argentina is keeping corn exports a bit dry. Plus, the Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) will tip the scales toward soybeans for U.S. farmers and push for keeping those beans in house.
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→ Seeds of knowledge. Wikifarmer recently finished a €5M funding round to expand its platform, which serves as a source for ag-related content and information, plus a B2B marketplace for ag products.
→ Eggs-tra supply? The National Chicken Council is calling on the FDA to hatch a new plan to lower egg prices: selling surplus hatching eggs.
→ If you can’t beet ‘em, protest ‘em. Farmers in France want to be able to continue using a banned pesticide on their sugar beets, leading to a protest (on tractors) through Paris.
→ Fertile ground for tech. According to new research, Europe has the highest adoption rate of agricultural technology, with North America coming in at second.
→ Fueling up? Several senators are asking President Biden to ask Brazil to end its tariffs on U.S. ethanol, which were just recently reimposed.
→ Bought milk? The U.S. dairy market set new export records in 2022, and crossed $9B in total exports for the first time ever.
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fotokostic from Getty Images
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Tracing, tracking, training – Oh my! With environmental concerns top of mind, Bunge has launched its Sustainable Partnership Program. It is designed to provide grain resellers with tools and methodologies to prove the sustainable origins of commodities.
The program gives access to various verification systems, like satellite and farm imagery data.
Brazilian beans: Bunge has hit 80% traceability of its Brazilian soybean supply chain. Brazil has spent time as the largest soybean producer in the world, beating the US in 2017-18 with 123.4M tons produced. Soybean acreage in the nation is expected to increase by 109%.
Tech partner: To add even more of a boost to the program, Bunge is enhancing its partnership with Vega Monitoramento, an AgTech company that uses remote sensing and data intelligence to monitor and trace supply chains.
Soundbite: "The program reaffirms Bunge’s active role in engaging and positively influencing the entire supply chain in Brazil and remains an important instrument in helping the company achieve its goal of deforestation-free chains in 2025." — Pamela Moreira, Bunge sustainability senior manager for South America
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It’s Valentine’s Day! Thinking of buying roses this year? Turns out, February isn’t a great month for growing roses domestically. The bulk of roses are flown in from (choose 3):
- Argentina
- Ecuador
- Ethiopia
- Japan
- Kenya
- Mexico
- The Netherlands
Answer at the bottom of the email.
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Business is bloom-ing for BloomX, who just secured $8M for its application of artificial intelligence and electric vehicles for pollination purposes.
What’s the buzz? BloomX, formerly Bumblebee AI, is an Israel-based startup that pairs AI with mechanical devices to create a "bio-mimicking technology." This basically means it uses an algorithm to find the perfect time for pollination and brings in hardware to duplicate the natural pollination process based on the crop.
You have to see it to bee-lieve it: BloomX’s EVs (electric vehicles) have mechanical arms that go between the two rows of plants and vibrate their stems. In true pollination fashion, the pollen falls on the flowers’ stigmas.
Proof is in the pudding honey pollination: According to BloomX, its solution can increase yields by nearly 30%. BloomX has pollinated 52K avocado trees and 1.75M blueberry plants to date, but is looking to expand into other crops.
Soundbite: "Our goal is to provide a highly efficient, and easy-to-use mechanized pollinator that empowers growers to effectively manage and attain control over the entire pollination process without exploiting bees." – Thai Sade, BloomX co-founder and CEO
BloomX bee-lievers: U.S.-based vegetable seed distribution company Ahern Agribusiness led the $8M seed round, along with worker bees Vasuki Global Tech Fund, Bio Bee, the Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA), and Dr. Gal Yarden.
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Written & Edited by Rachel Robinson, Aaron Dunajeski, Amelia VanLandegen, and Ashley Scoby
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