Good Morning.
Wake up, a new invasive species just dropped!
Well, kind of. Same old species, new location. The red fire ant has gone the way of American tourists in July—and headed to Europe.
This destructive ant, the Solenopsis invicta, has been found in Sicily, Italy, making it the first time the little bugger has been spotted in Europe. Across five hectares, there were at least 88 of the ants.
In addition to the painful sting that we know red fire ants for, they also can damage or destroy crops and local ecosystems.
Here's hoping the ants' Italian vacation is short-lived.
Stories:
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Pork production is not boding well for Cambodia.
Kind of a pig deal: Scientists recently discovered a new strain of swine influenza virus that has been circulating unnoticed in Cambodian pigs over the past 15 years.
Snout of control: The study, from March 2020 to July 2022, conducted swine flu surveillance in 18 pig slaughterhouses in Cambodia. The researchers performed 4,089 nasal swabs in pigs and around 2% of them tested positive for influenza A. Of the nine distinct virus groups, at least seven had not been detected for 2 to 15 years.
Say it’s not zoonotic: ‘Fraid so. The strains included viruses passed by humans to pigs and originating as far as North America—and undetected for 10 years. The co-author of the published study says swine flu viruses cause mild symptoms in pigs but pose a pandemic threat in humans.
Swine surveillance: The researchers say systematic surveillance is crucial for early detection and warnings of any new subtypes or strains. The ones they found will be studied further to determine their pandemic threat, and the team is working on developing a platform to identify major swine flu genetic subtypes—and will include screenings for avian and human subtypes.
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→ Watering down waterhemp? In Iowa, researchers have found two populations of dicamba-resistant waterhemp, a "reality check" for farmers who rely too heavily on individual herbicide groups.
→ Gobbling up tariffs. Basic tariffs on frozen turkey (whole and parts) from the U.S. have been reduced significantly in India, dropping from 30% to 5%.
→ On the decline. Ag export projections are down for this fiscal year, and the USDA is expecting a trade deficit.
→ Multiple herds. Rabobank reports that there are two distinct groups when it comes to global cattle prices: lower supply/more demand in the U.S. and Europe, and lower demand (and prices) worldwide.
→ Don’t cry over spilled milk. The USDA will provide assistance to dairy farmers who had to dump milk because of weather events from 2020-22.
→ Labored labor expenses. According to the USDA’s research service, the U.S. ag sector is predicted to spend $43.35B on farm labor this year—about a 2% increase from last year.
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Black Sea Grain Initiative Update |
ICYMI (and we’re not sure how) the Black Sea grain initiative is back in the news.
The skinny: Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says they’ll jump back in the deal when "Moscow’s conditions for export of its own grain and fertilizers to the global markets are met." It’s uncertain when this might be.
Refresher: Russia dropped out of the deal in July. The Black Sea Grain Initiative has been peddled by the U.N. to ease the global food crisis.
According to the chairman of the Russian Union of grain exporters, Eduard Zernin, the initiative has never helped Russia’s grain industry, but didn’t threaten it either.
Bank better have my money. One of the biggest headaches for Russia was getting paid for its grain. The global banking system would not allow settlements for Russian grain. Without guaranteed payments, many small companies were devastated.
Since Russia’s grain deal exit, Ukraine has alleged that Russia has struck grain terminals and infrastructure in Odesa, a Black Sea port. There have also been attacks and blockades on Ukraine’s ports on the Danube River.
Soundbite: "The Russian Federation's withdrawal from the Black Sea grain initiative in July, and attacks on grain facilities in Odesa and elsewhere, have again forced prices sky-high in many developing countries—taking the right to food far out of reach for many people." — Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council session in Geneva.
Turk was mentioning this specifically in reference to high malnutrition rates in Somalia during its drought.
Market watch: Last Friday, wheat futures fell to their lowest prices since May 31.
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If you follow crop reports at all, you know this year has been a roller coaster. But any guesses for which state’s corn crop is in the best condition?
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Answer at the bottom of the email.
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Indigo Ag Faces New Valuation Realities |
More than $3B… out the window?
Okay, maybe the money didn’t go missing, but AgTech company Indigo Ag’s latest round of funding totaled a valuation of $200M. That’s a lot of dough, but it was 94% less than its $3.5B valuation two years ago. That was the highest valuation for an AgTech… ever.
So, what gives? In 2018, the company raised $250M in Series E funding, leading up to the colossal valuation.
Valuation shift: Unic-Tech, an Israeli-based investment company and a primary funder of Indigo, reported that going public is "off the table." That led to the company undergoing a reorganization and caused Unic-Tech to conservatively readjust its valuation of Indigo.
Unic-Tech still believes in Indigo’s ability to create investor returns, announcing more financial backing.
Technicalities: Some analysts argued that Indigo’s labeling as a tech company initially boosted its valuation. However, they say the company is more "tech-enabled" to enhance its marketing, storage, carbon, and biological products.
Still aiming for the stars: And Indigo could be doing so for a while, according to others in the AgTech world.
Soundbite: "[Indigo Ag] raised a tremendous amount of money and set very high expectations in an industry of slow adopters, and one that’s still in its infancy and hasn’t produced many billion dollar outcomes yet." — AgFunder founding partner Rob Leclerc, to AgFunderNews
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Following a dry start, a damp July has left Pennsylvania with 80% excellent/good corn.
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Written & Edited by Sheridan Wimmer, Amelia VanLandegen, Dawson Schmitt, Jen Hill and Ashley Scoby
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