🐂 Crystal Ball Grazing + Nitrogen Lightning, Water Cuts in the West, and more...

Last week’s Cattle Industry Convention delivered a mixed bag of predictions for producers.

CattleFax’s CEO outlined a pandemic-fueled combination of shrinking cattle numbers and record demand hitting just as exports increase and harvest capacity grows, which puts power back in the hands of cattle producers.

And the general economy plays a part, too. Its bounce-back is bringing along inflationary pressures, but consumers continue to buy beef even as prices climb. It is what’s for dinner, after all.

CattleFax’s prediction? Fed cattle prices jumping from $121 to $135 per hundred, with peaks reaching $145 per hundred. Feeder cattle will feel the rising tide too, up to $200 per hundred from the $170 average in 2021.

Zoom out: Cattle prices have been on a bit of a roller coaster, dropping sharply in 2020 but making a full recovery. In current market conditions, producers can maximize the market by forward selling, buying call options, and buying puts—or asking their trusty Magic 8 Ball.

But not all good news: For some producers, lack of rain is overshadowing the market impact. Drought conditions across the upper Midwest and High Plains are drying up pastures and hayfields, leading some to depopulate their herds.

Quick Hits

→ Dairy numbers hitting decade-old digits. The USDA reported the national dairy herd sits at 9.505M milk cows, a number not seen since 1994.

→ Getting out of the weeds. The International Weed Genomics Consortium was awarded a $1.5M grant to speed up its work in sequencing 10 new weed genomes to create new solutions for weed control.

→ More port probz… China’s Ningbo-Zhoushan port, the third busiest port in the world, shut down again late last week after one worker tested positive for COVID-19.

→ Another digital deal. Farmers Edge revealed it will acquire CommoditAg, an e-commerce platform for ag input products with 14 distribution partners in more than 500 locations servicing 170,000 customers.

→ Grassley pumps the brakes on poultry deal. U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley is urging the Justice Department to fully vet the proposed sale of Sanderson Farms to Cargill and Continental Grain for any antitrust issues.

→ Last shot for Euro’s wheat crop. Dry, warm weather last week helped producers catch up on wheat harvest in France, Germany, and Poland. But it’s an uphill climb, after heavy summer rains already wilted the crop’s yield and quality.

→ Fruit basket shakeup. Recent USDA production reports showed the nation’s top fruit crops seeing a 2021 output spike over 2020: apples are up 3%, peaches are up 13%, cranberries are up 1%, and grapes are up 9%.

Before we even get started... don't try this at home.

Last week the startup Nitricity bolted onto the scene with the close of a $5M seed round led by Energy Impact Partners.

How it works: Nitricity produces nitrogen fertilizer directly at the point-of-use through a proprietary system with solar-powered plasma cells. Nitrogen is fixed from the air and combined with other nutrients to make products including nitric acid and calcium nitrate. This can tie in directly with the farm’s irrigation system for precise applications.

So long story short... it's lightning in a bottle your next fertilizer application.

Plus, it’s good for the environment. Most fertilizer today is produced with coal and natural gas, then makes its way through an expansive supply chain, emitting carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide into the air.

But the Nitricity process uses only water, air, and electricity, and can eliminate up to a gigaton - yes, that's a thing - of carbon equivalent per year.

Soundbite: “Nitricity creates fertilizers that are customized for fields and farmers, rather than optimized for factories and freight. Electrifying and decentralizing fertilizer production will provide farmers a better product, reduce emissions, and improve safety. It’s as simple as that,” said Nico Pinkowski, CEO and Co-Founder of Nitricity.

Calling all ag, biotech, and life science early-stage companies...

gBETA Agbioscience is a free, seven-week accelerator for any startup-stage teams in the Agbioscience space with Indiana roots. Each program is capped at five teams, and requires no fees and no equity.

As part of gener8tor, the nationally-ranked startup accelerator, teams in the program can expect:

Individualized coaching and mentorship from the gBETA team plus one-on-one meetings with 25+ mentors.
Exclusive Pitch Night reception where companies pitch to an audience of entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors.
$1M + in deals from vendors like IBM Cloud, Amazon, Zendesk and Microsoft.

Interested? Make sure to apply before the September 6 deadline.

When you come from a family of farmers and agribusiness folks, you can’t help but be drawn back to your roots. And that is the origin story of BJ Brugman’s professional ag journey.

BJ spent eight years moving up the ranks at Elanco Animal Health before venturing out to launch his own precision livestock tech startup, Distynct.

When he’s not busy scaling his new venture, you might find BJ hanging out with hostage negotiators, cycling in Iowa’s famous RAGBRAI, or riding out COVID-19 in lockdown in France. Let’s just say he’s one for an adventure.

Read the entire Q&A with BJ here.

For the first time in forever… the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will be cutting water supply from the Colorado River. The cuts will affect 40M people across the Western U.S. and Mexico, with farmers taking the biggest hit.

How much water are we talking?

Arizona – loss of 512,000 acre-feet of water, which is about 1/5 of the Colorado River supply, and ~8% of its total water
Nevada – loss of 21,000 acre-feet
Mexico – loss of 80,000 acre-feet

And in case you’re wondering: One acre-foot supplies one to two households a year.

Although it was expected because of the drought and high demand, the Colorado River supply cutbacks will especially affect Pinal County, Arizona, which is the largest producer of cotton, barley, and livestock in the state.

The good news for farmers in the West… The U.S. government has taken note. Western water projects were included in the $1 trillion infrastructure bill approved by the Senate.