🐷 Need for Speed + A Trucker Drought, AgTech Funding Roundup, and more...

The pork industry is doing all it can to avoid tapping on the processing brakes.

A federal district court ruling from late March will slow line speeds at pork processing plants on June 29 if left unchallenged. The court ruling came by way of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which cited worker safety as the reason for the ruling.

Pork producers are saying, “don’t slow our roll” because it would dramatically affect U.S. hog producers and especially hurt smaller producers – to the tune of more than $80 million in reduced income.

Really pork (g)rinding our gears. Iowa State University’s analysis shows the shift would cause a 2.5% loss in pork packing plant capacity and force plants to use more mandatory overtime.

Show me the data. Some plants have been operating with faster line speeds under a pilot project for years. They were processing 1,450 hogs per hour. The slower line speeds would max out at 1,106 hogs per hour. The Iowa State analysis predicts the fewer pigs going to market, the more backlog, which would drive prices down and hurt farmer profitability.

One example of that is at Seaboard Foods. They calculated that scaling back the line speeds would result in 126,000 excess market-weight hogs barreling out of the company’s production pipeline over the following ten months.

Where this goes: The National Pork Producers Council is urging USDA to intervene before the ruling takes effect at the end of June.

→ Farmland cashes in. The Rural Mainstreet Index shared that farmland prices expanded for eight straight months, a first since 2013. Plus, cash rent prices went up 7.3% over the past twelve months.

→ JBS peaces out. As the cattle industry seeks to resolve price imbalances, the beef packer confirmed that last year it dropped its membership from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the largest U.S. beef industry trade group.

→ A comeback for Cuban trade? U.S. Senators have launched a new bill breaking down embargo barriers for U.S. farmers hoping to export more ag goods to the northern Caribbean neighbor.

→ Avocado trials and tribulations. Not too dissimilar from its citrus cousins, Florida avocados have seen a 34% decrease in production since 2015 due to a red-hot real estate market and the laurel wilt virus disease.

→ Tyson’s turkey settlement. The poultry leader reached a settlement with a group of direct purchasers for $4.6 million in a legal dispute about the company’s involvement in fixing prices for turkey products.

→ The (dairy) gloves are coming off. U.S. Trade Rep Katherine Tai announced that the U.S. will establish a panel to dispute Canada’s allocation of tariff-rate quotes that limit U.S. dairy exports.

→ Progress report. The nation’s planting window is nearing a close as 90% of the U.S. corn crop has been planted, and 75% of soybeans are also in the ground.

You may have noticed a trend in Magnetic the past month. ‘Shortage' - the supply chain and market-busting term - has shown up 13 times in the past 8 newsletters.

And it’s not done yet. The issue this go-around? Truck drivers.

With trucking companies already reporting significantly fewer drivers than this time last year, the future doesn’t look very bright. The American Trucking Association is predicting a shortfall of over 100,000 drivers by 2023.

And this is where the rubber meets the road: Over 70% of all goods shipped across the country are carried...you guessed it...on a truck. And the shortage is concerning many producers.

The Golden State woes. With the carrot and onion harvests in Southern California coming in fast, seasonal trucker demand is up, and companies report that they have around 30% fewer drivers than needed.

But wait, there’s more. Driver demand will be going up as summer rolls around and the tomato and nut harvests kick into high gear.

Yet, with the trucker shortage, getting the product east-bound and down may prove tricky. And more ominous consequences could be on the horizon.

According to Joe Antonini, the top dog at a Stockton-based trucking company, "crop spoilage, waste, and crops not even being able to be harvested” are potential outcomes of the summer driver shortage.

What lies ahead: California growers are hoping for a weight-limit increase to help with transport (a little) this summer. But with amped-up demand, an aging driver pool, and a host of other issues, the problem isn’t likely to hit the road anytime soon.

Maybe we’re just biased, but we really believe beef from a 5th generation family farm does taste better.

And Hannah Esch would agree. That’s why she started Oak Barn Beef and began selling beef from her family’s Nebraska ranch. With an emphasis on educating and advocating for the industry she grew up in, Hannah saw a prime business opportunity to share what she knew best: high-quality beef.

All that said, Magnetic Ag is excited to partner with Oak Barn Beef to celebrate National Beef Month with this awesome giveaway.

How This Works

Like our standard referral program, simply use your unique referral link below, and for every sign-up you generate, you get entered to win a Black Box of Beef Jerky & Sticks from Oak Barn Beef!

If you win the package, then we’ll then randomly select someone you referred to win the jerky & sticks package, too. More shares = a better chance of you and those you refer to end up with some great beef snacks on your front porch.

Your unique referral link:

What do you have to lose? Start sharing Magnetic today and help celebrate National Beef Month!

*Giveaway ends Monday, May 31, at noon EST.

Sustainability is the name of the game for these startups who recently raked in new piles of investment dollars.

Here’s a snapshot of where agtech startup bucks are headed for environmentally-friendly microbes, biofertilizers, and biomolecule injections:

1. The biofertilizer biz. Kula Bio recently raised a cool $10M in a seed round led by Collaborative Fund, which hosts notable nature-conscious groups like The Nature Conservancy and Lowercarbon Capital, to name a few.

Specializing in sustainable nitrogen solutions, its Kula-N product is a next-generation nitrogen biofertilizer that helps farmers maintain yields while lessening the impact of traditional fertilizers.

2. Citrus’ savior? Invaio Sciences came up with almost $89M in a Series C round led by Flagship Pioneering. One of its focus areas is preventing Citrus Greening Disease by injecting a natural peptide straight into the crop versus spraying crop protection products.

Besides citrus, Invaio is working on products to help olive and perennial customers. Since its founding in 2018, Invaio has been in a steady R&D phase but plans to have products on the market by 2022.

3. Paring down the phosphorus. Earlier this month, Israeli startup GroundWork BioAg closed on $11M in venture financing.

Mycorrhizal inoculants are the new, shiny science behind maximizing yields while reducing the need for phosphorus fertilizers. While conventional farming practices typically destroy mycorrhiza and other microbes that occur naturally in the soil, Groundwork BioAg hopes to reverse the trend. It also sequesters carbon. #win-win