Good morning.
It sure doesn’t hurt to be part of the Cargill lineage these days…
Three Cargill siblings (who are also stakeholders in the agribusiness company with their name) have been added to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. While food prices soar worldwide, the three saw their own fortunes swell by 20% since the start of 2022.
That’s quite the family affair, with each sibling worth a cool $5.4B each.
With the Cargill-MacMillans bringing home so much bacon, here’s hoping our own bacon prices start to see a little relief…
Stories:
- Spring Snowmageddon
- Good Will Hunting Farming
- Not a (Carbon) Pipe Dream
PS: Thanks to Matthew P. for sending in a fix from last week’s newsletter! In our Quick Hits about Australian startup Carbon Count, we wrote that the company raised $50M in Series B funding. But they actually just *announced* they were opening up the funding round.
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April Snow Brings May Moisture Relief? |
Debi Bishop | Getty Images Signature
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North Dakota livestock and its owners had a hairy Easter holiday, with a storm of the century dumping Snowmageddon-levels of snow.
Animals huddled in the cold, covered in icicles among snowdrifts taller than horse barns.
Ranchers and dairy farmers were digging calves out of the snow and dumping milk because milk trucks couldn’t make it to the dairy farms. A dairy near Bismarck saw 21 inches of snow in just 48 hours.
Sacrifice to the moisture gods: Some ranchers said the calf-killing blizzard is what’ll save the cow herd. About 46% of North Dakota is still in some form of drought, compared to 54% last week and 86% at the start of the year.
Soundbite: "Every time you eat your food, think of the ranchers and farmers that went through this. And just remember us." - Emily Richard, Richard Angus Ranch
Geez ‘o Pete, the wheat: The freeze warnings in the Western Plains and the Western Corn Belt gave farmers chills for their already drought-hampered winter wheat crop, which is coming out of dormancy and needs sun.
The wintry weather and snow is pushing spring planting plans in many regions across North America including our neighbor to the north, a major wheat exporter. Delays in Canada are adding to worries about global wheat supplies due to disruptions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring fertilizer costs.
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→ HPAI not flying away yet. But the birds will be: a resurgence of the highly pathogenic avian influenza is expected in the fall, as birds migrate south carrying the disease.
→ Vet debt relief? The Farm Journal Foundation and Zoetis Foundation have teamed up to ease student debt for veterinarians, and hopefully help alleviate the vet shortage in rural areas.
→ Fortify your firewall. On the heels of several 2021 harvest season cyberattacks on ag organizations, the FBI released a security alert to ag cooperatives, warning them to take all precautions against possible ransomware attacks.
→ Grain train pain. Amidst labor shortages and other economic problems for railroads, unfilled grain orders increased by 50% in 2021, leaving tens of thousands of customers (mostly in the North Plains) waiting for shipments.
→ Kernel gold. According to a new analysis at the University of Illinois, corn will have a $108 to $227 per acre profitability advantage over soybeans this year (and possibly into 2023).
→ Breadbasket misery. After Russia’s invasion and "vast destruction" of both crops and infrastructure, a full one-third of Ukraine’s crops might not be harvested this year.
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Good Will Hunting Farming |
Solving mathematical equations isn’t for the faint of (a farmer’s) heart.
Farmers may have thousands or even millions of possible routes between each of their fields. Figuring out the fastest one has been a problem farmers have faced for more than 12,000 years.
But Heartland, a biotech company located in Detroit, has solved the mathematical problem of finding the fastest route between multiple locations. The company received a $360K USDA grant, which drove them to want to reach agriculturists across the entire industry.
All roads lead to efficiency: Users of their product, ReMap, put in a starting destination and a list of fields’ coordinates. ReMap will then determine the fastest route to plant, harvest, and scout.
This plot-mapping technology will drive efficiency and reduce fuel consumption, maintenance fees, and time in a farmers’ day.
The real kicker: It’s free.
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Grains: Lower than expected export sales put a damper on corn while soybeans stabilized.
Livestock: Grilling season is 'officially' underway which gave cattle a boost.
*As of Market Close [4/21/22]
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PARTNERED WITH MODERN ACRE CO-OP
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Let's Get Modern, Agriculture |
Don’t blink twice. NFTs have just rolled past the farmgate and into the next era of agriculture.
At the intersection of web3 and agriculture, The Modern Acre podcast has officially launched their NFT-gated, high-level peer networking community, The Modern Acre Co-op.
To create this next-level community, the Co-op uses NFTs (non-fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain) to serve as digital access cards.
Owning one of the NFTs gives you access to things like:
- Members-only Telegram group
- Mentorship and networking events
- Projection incubation and deal flow
So if industry conferences feel a bit stale, this can be the place just for you. Engage in this ongoing community with some of the most influential people in food and agriculture.
There are only 210 passes available, so don’t wait. NFTs are currently available to mint (purchase). And once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Explore all the Modern Acre Co-op can offer you today!
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Not a (Carbon) Pipe Dream |
The Midwest Carbon Express is using chemis-tree and a new, ag-centric pipeline to capture the same amount of carbon as 14.7M acres of forest.
Summit Carbon Solution’s project is full steam ahead to connect ethanol plants with carbon capture, transport, and permanent storage. The project captures federal and state subsidies for carbon capture and low carbon fuels.
By the numbers:
- 31 ethanol plants are partners in the project
- 12 metric tons of CO₂ (the equivalent of taking 2.6M cars off the road) could be captured annually
- Ethanol plants’ carbon intensity would be halved
- 20% of the land for the Iowa section of the pipeline has been secured
Dakota’s debates: In South Dakota, farmers and ag businesses have been given a two-week extension to gain status to voice their concerns with the pipeline. Currently, 376 landowners, towns, and counties have already applied for that status.
That’s two times the applicants as the Keystone Pipeline, and we know how hot that topic was.
CO(₂)-operation: Summit Carbon Solutions is walking on coal with some who aren’t excited about their cropland reducing the carbon footprint. Environmental groups worry about public safety in the event of a leak. Some farmers have cited concern over lowered yields.
Where this goes: Negotiations with landowners are ongoing. Two other companies are also vying for Midwest land to build carbon pipelines. If voluntary easements can’t be secured, it may come down to eminent domain. Twenty Iowa counties are already playing decarbonization defense with eminent domain objections.
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Another day, another interesting ag headline.
Can you fill in the blank below from DTN's Progressive Farmer about a recent cattle scam?
Cattle _____ Scam Steals $5 Million From Ranchers
What was the scam about?
Answer at the bottom of the email.
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Written & Edited by Savanna Barksdale, Sheridan Wimmer, Kelsey Faivre, Ashley Scoby, and Travis Martin
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