Good morning.
The readers have spoken. When it comes to the favorite boot brand of the Magnetic community, Ariat was king, taking 39% of the vote.
Justin Boots (13%) and Red Wing (11%) rounded out the top three.
To the person whose write-in vote was Crocs… well, we appreciate you daring to be different.
Stories:
- Literally... Hog(s) Wild
- Kubota's Bet on Robots
- Tyson Cooks Up Automation Investments
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Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo 6M wild hogs roam… said no one.
Especially not the 1.1M ag producers who are experiencing a Planet of the Apes-level feral pig takeover firsthand.
Feral pigs eat and uproot almost any crop, commonly targeting sugarcane, corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, wheat, oats, peanuts, and rice. Pastureland is the preferred place for herds to wallow, as they kill desired perennial grass that feeds livestock.
Breaking the piggy bank: USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service economists calculated a conservative estimate of annual crop damage at $190M. Texas, the state with the highest estimated feral hog population, had the highest annual crop losses – nearly $90M.
Powerfully prolific pigs: How did they go from invading 17 states in the 1980s to 38 states today? With the ability to breed year-round, and average litters including five to eight piglets, feral hog populations can double in size within four months.
Houston, we have a problem: Even residents of Sugar Land, Texas (a Houston suburb), have feral pigs tearing up nice lawns, causing costly damage to sprinklers, and creating traffic jams on busy roads.
Costly control methods: Shooting on sight is the most commonly reported tactic for controlling hog populations and also the most costly. Other methods are trapping, fences, and aerial hunting.
APHIS has a field ops team led by Wildlife Services, which has removed tens of thousands of hogs. The 2018 Farm Bill allocated $75M to Natural Resources Conservation Service and APHIS to further respond.
But wait, there’s boar: Disease-carrying, uncultured swine. Feral pigs exist in around 43% of swine-producing counties, increasing the likelihood of contamination and disease spread, and greatly increasing the difficulty of controlling the disease.
This sends African swine fever shivers up any pork producer’s spine.
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→ Meat manipulators. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said Brazil hasn’t been reporting atypical BSE cases so they could fill large orders headed to China.
→ Family farms eye fertilizer. The Family Farm Action Alliance is asking the Department of Justice to investigate potential anticompetitive practices, thanks to the price of all nitrogen fertilizers more than doubling since 2020.
→ Slowly but surely. Certain pork products from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are now allowed back on the U.S. mainland, after an African swine fever outbreak in nearby Dominican Republic and Haiti paused all shipments.
→ Citrus greening creeping north. The infectious disease is typically found in central Florida—but Northern Florida and Georgia citrus producers are now on alert after confirming its presence near the stateline.
→ China’s looming deadline. New food safety rules as part of the country’s customs process have food companies scrambling to register products ahead of a Jan. 1 implementation date.
→ Bakers, beware. Nearly $10M worth of California walnuts are stuck in Sacramento packing facilities due to continued shipping and port constraints, leaving many without essential baking supplies for the holidays.
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Kubota Bets Big on Bloomfield
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With a major investment in Bloomfield Robotics, Kubota is stepping up for smart ag, and targeting tree and vine crops.
The joint investment with SVG Ventures was made through the THRIVE Accelerator Program. Bloomfield brought in a total of $1.8M in its first funding round, on top of several grants already awarded.
What it is: Bloomfield Robotics is a smart ag startup that provides images and analysis to help farmers make timely management decisions, like when to harvest, or address a pesky pest problem. It’s currently working with a group of vineyards and growers in France, Italy, Peru, and the U.S.
How it works: Bloomfield provides proprietary cameras that can mount to apple-solutely any vehicle that travels through the trees. Artificial intelligence processes and analyzes crop condition images, capturing fruit and leaf color, size, and maturity. Then, it proposes management steps to address what it sees.
Bloomfield wants growers to get the most out of every tree and vine without a total orchard overhaul. They expect their tech to "hitch a ride" on Kubota’s vehicles, a berry efficient path to pest detection and yield estimation.
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Grains: Solid weather in South America pushed U.S. grains down yesterday.
Livestock: Cattle rebounded after hitting lows late last week.
*As of Market Close [12/13/21]
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SPONSORED BY AEI.AG PRESENTS
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You might be living under a rock if you work in agriculture and haven’t heard the phrase ‘carbon markets’ at least 100 times.
But agriculture has been through this before, and that’s exactly what AEI.ag Presents explores in their second season titled ‘Corn Saves America.’
When looking for an event that brought together technology, policy, and market forces in a way that echoes what carbon markets hope to achieve, the AEI.ag team found one – the rise of corn ethanol.
Throughout this season they’ll unpack how corn-based fuel united farmers, energy companies, and environmentalists to transform markets. And more importantly, they’ll gauge if carbon markets could be on a similar trajectory.
Tune in to Corn Saves America wherever you listen to podcasts.
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We’re going global with Name This Crop, and today’s image is brought to you by Worldmapper. The map gets larger in regions where there is more production and shrinks in areas of little production.
Which crop (that we already talked about above in today’s newsletter) is featured above?
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.
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Magnetic's Must-See Stuff
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New year, new job? If 2022 is shaping up to be a ‘New Year, New You’ kinda vibe, why not see if a new gig awaits you on the Magnetic Ag Job Board?
We love lists… CropLife’s annual top 100 U.S. ag retailers list is out now.
*Looking to advertise your event, announcement, or product here? Learn more.
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Tyson's Got Something Cooking...
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Tyson Foods is beefing up its capacity and investing in automation. Spoiler alert, it’s nothing to bawk at.
By the numbers: Tyson has committed $1.8B to increase capacity in the next 2 years.
- During this time, 12 new plants will start operations, lifting production to nearly 1.3B pounds.
- Fully cooked products will see a 30% increase, as 7 plants add these capabilities.
- Value-added products will increase by 40% thanks to 2 new beef and pork plants.
- $450M will go toward automation and robotics, which would cut about 3,000 jobs by 2024.
The investment in automation will largely replace human labor in the chicken deboning process, one of the most labor-intensive positions responsible for some of the highest turnover.
Where this goes: In fiscal 2021, Tyson only hit 80% capacity utilization for chickens slaughtered. By the end of FY22 they plan to hit 85% with an ultimate goal of reaching 98% capacity utilization in the years to come.
Tyson isn’t the only bird to fly the labor coop. Deloitte reported that 60% of food industry executives they surveyed are actively looking to automate work.
A soundbite: "We have substantial opportunity to automate the debone process within our poultry harvest facilities using the combination of both third-party and proprietary technologies," said Tyson president and CEO, Donnie King.
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Magnetic Ag
P.O. Box 7292
Greenwood, IN 46142-6423
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