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December 21, 2021

TOGETHER WITH:

Good morning.

To those of you still checking emails, you’re in the home stretch!

As we jingle into these next few days, our crew will be reflecting on just how thankful we are for each reader who has joined us over the past year. We can’t thank you all enough!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Stories:

• Wheat Rollercoasters & Russian Roulette
• 'Amazon of Ag' Snags Cash
• Bird Flu Deja Vu

Quick schedule sidebar:

• No newsletter this Friday (Christmas Eve)
• Special year-end edition next Wednesday (29th)
• Back to our regular Tuesday/Friday schedule on January 4th

WHEAT

GIPHY

Wheat producers and marketers have recently been on a wild ride.

And they’d better buckle up…’cause it ain’t over yet.

Refresher: CBOT wheat prices steadily climbed over the course of the fall (with a few dips). A major rally then shot prices into the stratosphere just prior to Thanksgiving.

Then, the grizzly bear showed up and devoured much of that bullish trend.

Yet that price rally was kind of expected. Winter wheat planting season did not have a great start, 2021 spring wheat from the U.S./Canada was dismal (where was that rain, Mother Nature?), and Australia’s suspected bumper crop was doused right at harvest.

The plunge: Rising prices then curbed demand. Plus, in the December WASDE report, the USDA basically said, "Uh…it looks like global/domestic reserves and international output for 2021/2022 will all be higher than expected." The result? Prices tanked.

But wait…there’s more. Enter the Russian yo-yo.

Back in the USSR: Russia can’t make up its mind regarding just how stingy it wants to be. In an effort to stave off food inflation, the Ministry of Agriculture has limited export quotas and imposed taxes on wheat exports.

This week, those taxes are set to increase to $94/metric ton. The February 15 to June 30 wheat quota? Down to 8 MMT from the previously quoted 9 MMT.

Where this goes: Wheat prices might still have a little way to drop, but with relatively tight global supplies and a high consumption-to-production ratio expected, producers and marketers should expect to eventually grab the bull by the horns.

→ Rocky Mountain ripoff. A Colorado cattleman was sentenced to 41 years in prison after defrauding 100 investors of over $5M when his plans to develop a new breed of cattle—the Rocky Mountain Romangus—never materialized.

→ Big data comes to cotton. Cotton Inc. and SAS are collaborating to bring advanced analytics to cotton growers, ginners, and textile companies.

→ Seaboard says ‘nah’... to selling certain pork products in California beginning January 1, as the state’s Proposition 12 ruling forces meat producers to create more physical space for pigs in food animal production.

→ Deadlocked chicken jury. A mistrial was called for ten poultry executives from Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, and Perdue Farms after the jury couldn’t reach a consensus on the allegations of price-fixing and bid-rigging.

→ Year-end funding frenzy:

AGTECH

Agrofy

The self-proclaimed "leading agribusiness online market in Latin America," Agrofy, just secured $30M in Series C funding. 

The Amazon for ag? Pretty close. The online marketplace sells more than 150,000 products (from 17 different categories) for farmers in nine countries. It also provides financial services. 

Serving up sales since founders Maximiliano Landrien and Alejandro Larosa started Agrofy in 2016, the duo will use this funding to strengthen its core business areas: 

• E-commerce platform that connects farmers with agricultural products
• Agrofy Pay e-wallet and Agrofy Credits, all included in its farmer fintech suite
• Expansion of Brazilian operations and its launch of Agrofy Pay in 2022

Why the hype? While Agrofy is in an extremely competitive space, the opportunities are limitless. Thanks to its technology and its partnership with top agri-retailers, Agrofy gives farmers the opportunity to digitize their sales—so working with Agrofy makes a lot of cents. 

Soundbite: "One of the things we like most about Agrofy is their potential for future expansion," says Erkki Aaltonen, managing director of Yara Growth Ventures, which led this funding round (YGV is the VC arm of Norwegian agrochemicals giant Yara International).  

Grains: Dry South American weather had soy trading higher and damage to wheat in the Central Plains had a similar effect.

Livestock: Broader economic and pandemic issues dinged the proteins.

*As of Market Close [12/20/21]

SPONSORED BY FUSIONWARE

Partners. Customers. Consumers.

They all expect it. And ‘it’ is becoming table stakes in the food value chain.

Yep, we’re talking about food traceability.

And that’s where Fusionware saves the day for farms, packers, shipping operations, and more. 

Focused on maintaining traceability from seed-to-shelf, the platform quickly initiates recalls and contacts people up and down the supply chain. Plus, its logistics capabilities help coordinate packing and shipping operations.

Just take it from one of their customers, BlackGold Farms in North Dakota:

"Our experience with Fusionware has been nothing short of extraordinary as it delivers the software platform of the future and opens doors that traditional software just isn’t capable of."

Give Fusionware a try for your operation and learn more here.

Thanks to Lucas De Bruin from Iowa for today's trivia question!

Guess without going over: How many gallons of ethanol are produced from 1 bushel of corn?

Answer at the bottom of the email.

**Win a Magnetic koozie when you submit a trivia question and it gets used in a future newsletter! Submit questions here.

Need a New Year resolution? Do a gut check on your current gig and see if there might be a better fit on the Magnetic Ag Job Board.

Need some last-minute gift ideas? Click that speed-delivery option and check out these lists from Successful Farming and AgDaily.

*Looking to advertise your event, announcement, or product here? Learn more.

POULTRY

Mark Bullimore / Getty Images

European governments are grappling with an explosion of bird flu that’s hitting everywhere—from backyard flocks and bird sanctuaries to large commercial farms. 

This year’s outbreak is a fowl new strain, and the UK’s chief veterinarian is concerned with year-over-year outbreak growth. Biosecurity is the primary weapon against bird flu. 

The flu has hit wild birds hard, too: swans, curlews, herring gulls, and more have all been found dying or dead. Migratory birds are a big spreader of the disease.

The good news? Food safety risk is low—as long as folks aren’t trying to eat poultry and eggs cooked to medium-rare. 

Here’s the country by country breakdown: 

 
Bulgaria: 7,000 ducks were culled in the village of Malak Dol after an avian influenza type A outbreak there.

 
France: Foie gras farmers are having a bad case of deja vu after the H5N1 bird flu showed up on a duck farm in the southwestern part of the country last week. The flu decimated flocks just a year ago. All ducks at the farm where the outbreak started, plus birds at seven surrounding farms, were slaughtered to stem the spread. 

 
Britain: In the midst of the country’s worst ever outbreak, 500,000 birds have been culled since October 27th. An Avian Influenza Prevention Zone was declared in November in the UK, requiring all bird owners—even backyard bird farmers—to keep their flocks inside.

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2.7 gallons

Written by Kevin Cross, Kelsey Faivre, and Travis Martin

Edited by Ashley Scoby

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