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APRIL 30, 2021
Magnetic Ag News
TOGETHER WITH
Taranis
Good morning. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to break out those bowties and fascinators. The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow.

Our team’s personal faves in the field are Hidden Stash and Hot Rod Charlie, but it looks like Essential Quality is the 2-1 favorite.

Speaking of essential quality (like that pivot?), we need your help. To keep making Magnetic content as dialed in as possible, could you take 60 seconds and answer our reader survey? Gift cards are on the line...


Today's headlines:
  • A Swing for the Vences
  • Vilsack: We Aren't the Meat Police
  • ADM Is Rolling

AGTECH

A Swing for the Vences
Vence Corporation
Vence
Thanks to a recent $12 million investment in a San Diego startup, a whole boatload of ranchers will soon be rotating their herds across rangeland without running another strand of wire.

“Oh, oh, it’s magic.”: Well, not really, but it is cutting-edge. With the help of GPS and some high-tech wearable collars, the Vence Corporation is providing ranchers with a 21st-century solution to open grazing and pasture rotation.

How it works: Using an app on his or her phone, a producer sets an “invisible fence” boundary by inputting GPS coordinates. Then, just strap a collar around Bessie’s neck, and she’s free to roam.

As a cow approaches a boundary, the collar emits a warning noise. If it ignores the warning, then it’s encouraged to turn around via a light electrical shock--just like an electric fence.

Oh, and this... It’s not just for keeping the herd venced in. Sensing the animal’s direction of movement, the collar also uses noise and shocks to herd the cattle to the next paddock.

But it’s about more than pasture management. With U.S. grasslands being the largest land-based carbon sink globally, preventing overgrazing by simplifying pasture rotation is a slam-dunk for combating climate change.

Where this goes: With the company’s new cash on hand, the 5,000 farmers lined up to get the service won’t have to wait long. And Vence plans to move forward with more R&D to service even more livestock producers.
COMMODITY CORNER
Commodity Prices
Grains: An uncompelling trade day as rains fell across the Cornbelt midweek. Soybeans lower on soybean oil bearishness.

Livestock: Hogs lower on lacking Chinese sales and cattle contracts fairly flat on lackluster grains trading off from their highs.

*as of market close 4/29/21

QUICK HITS
Show me the plastic. Supply chain shortages have now reached farm plastic components as drainage tiles see a ~25% price hike, and silage wraps are at ~20-40% price increases.

D.C. scrambles over drought. The Biden administration has formed a working group between the USDA and the Department of the Interior to address drought conditions in the West and aid farmers and local communities facing water shortages.

Everyone wants transparency. Even shippers. The National Grain and Feed Association led a coalition to create a resource allowing shipping companies to see what commodities were carried in hopper cars to prevent possible food allergen cross-contact.

An Irish baker’s nightmare. With Ireland flour imports escalating quickly and prices rising 50%+, Irish politicians are debating increasing domestic grain processing to supply domestic demand.

Idaho farmers' wolf vendetta. A new bill authorizing the culling of 90% of Idaho’s wolf population is backed by farmers and ranchers who say the wild population is killing off scores of sheep, cattle, and other farm animals.


Progress report. As of Sunday, USDA planting data is showing the following status of seeds in the ground for the 2021 crop; 17% of corn, 8% of soybeans, and 28% of spring wheat.

Ambitious almond growth. California’s 2020 crop (where 80% of the world’s almonds are grown) came in at an estimated 1.25 million bearing acres, up 5.9% over 2019.

AG POLICY

Vilsack: We Aren't the Meat Police
Tom Vilsack Tweet
Twitter
President Biden’s recent proposal to cut 50-52% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 got people talking...a lot. And not necessarily for good reason.

The meat of the matter: After the announcement, a British news site suggested that to reach those levels, Americans would have to reduce their meat intake by 90%, or a max of four pounds of red meat per year.

Let’s just say things then went a little viral...

Other news sources took the report and ran, creating media buzz about an anti-meat agenda.

Vilsack to the rescue. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is adamantly denying the reports that the Biden Administration is trying to cut meat out of diets, saying, “There is no effort designed to limit people’s intake of beef coming out of President Biden’s White House or coming out of the USDA.

On high alert: This plan to reduce emissions called 30X30 has been a contentious topic for those in agriculture, some citing additional concerns of potential land grabs from the government.

Again, Vilsack explained to the North American Agricultural Journalists in an interview Monday that the plan to protect 30% of land by 2030 does not mean federal overreach in taking possession of land.

Rather, Vilsack says there is no intent to take land away from farmers, and the goal is to “give farmers opportunities.”

JUST FOR FUN

Our Kentucky Derby research took us down a black hole... so let’s talk horses.

To qualify for the big day, the 3-year-old animals are often colts or geldings, with the occasional appearance of a filly (female horse).

Which leads us to our question of the day: has a filly ever won the Kentucky Derby?

Answer on the scroll.
SPONSORED BY TARANIS

And the best place to scout your fields from is...
Taranis
Anywhere you want.

Checking your crops from the beach? Surf’s up. Connecting with your advisor from the local tavern? Enjoy that happy hour. Can’t sleep in the middle of the night or during a thunderstorm? Have at it.

Field scouting is one of the most critical components of farm management, and what you don’t know will hurt you. Pests and pathogens wreak damages up to $540 billion annually.

Undoubtedly, they’ve caused you to lose a few dollars yourself.

That’s where Taranis is changing the game. A novel precision agtech company, Taranis provides leaf-level aerial surveillance, using artificial intelligence to deliver unparalleled insights, including:

  • Accurate stand counts at emergence  
  • Nutrient monitoring
  • Early identification of pests and weeds


Taranis delivers submillimeter resolution, which means you might see more than you want to; from emerging weeds to the hindlegs of a grasshopper, you won’t believe your eyes.

And the good news is you won’t have to. It’s all in the palm of your hand with their mobile app, CONNECT.

With Taranis, you’ll save time and money – and with a little more of both, maybe that beach trip isn’t such a bad idea. Learn more about Taranis here.

AGRIBUSINESS

ADM Is On A Roll
ADM Earnings
Archer Daniels Midland
We are in the midst of the first earnings season of the year, and if you’re ADM, things are looking mighty fine.

ADM just dropped their first-quarter financials, and while they may have been overshadowed by all the #Plant21 selfies on Twitter, they definitely caught our attention.

By the numbers:

  • ADM reported a 76% increase in quarterly profits, rising from just 69 cents per share a year ago to $1.22 per share.
  • Overall revenue for the grain giant blew projections away, jumping to $18.89 billion, a 26% increase.
  • The company’s Ag Services & Oilseed segment posted a record quarter with operating profits of $777 million, an 84% increase.


ADM’s CEO Juan Luciano said that the impressive quarter could largely be attributed to the ever-growing demand for imported grain in China. The company also brought two ethanol plants back online as demand continues to rise.

But wait, there’s more: Earlier this month, the company opened a new “Plant-Based Innovation Lab” in Singapore. ADM hopes this new facility will drive new, versatile product offerings in the trendy plant-based protein market.

FRIDAY'S FEATURED GIG

Director of Product Management | Taranis
You’ll set the product strategy and roadmap for the company and serve as the main interface between our customers and partners, as well as our product and R&D teams in our Innovation Center. Apply here.

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ANSWER

Yes, three times! Winning Colors (1988), Genuine Risk (1980), and Regret (1915) are the only fillies to win the Kentucky Derby.
Written by: Travis Martin, Kevin Cross, Sheridan Wimmer, Daniel Bechman

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