🥛 Milk's Chill Factor / 🤖 Robot Vibes / 📉 Farm Lending Shrinks

Milk’s got more going for it than just a mustache these days.

The backstory: With 67% of adults concerned about their stress and anxiety levels, mental health has become a mega-focus.

And as Americans look for new ways to manage stress naturally, one dairy duo is ready to serve them a new-age, scientifically-backed snack.

Stress-snack on this: milk phospholipids.

Launched by dairy ingredient-solutions brand NZMP and backed by colossal dairy cooperative Fonterra, the new products - think snack bars and stir-in powders - use naturally occurring lipids in milk to help consumers manage stress, stay focused, and feel positive. The effects are clinically proven.

A soundbite: "By extending our portfolio into the mental wellness space, we're helping food brands tap into new consumers' needs, such as mood-enhancement and cognitive performance under stress — issues that have recently amplified due to the pandemic." noted Charlotte Ortiz with Fonterra.

Plus this: For Fonterra, it’s a strategic way to put its 4.5 billion gallons of milk to work in an era when global fluid milk consumption is declining while brain-boosting and energy-enhancing foods are on the rise.

Where this goes: Lipid-loaded nutritional bars, ready-to-mix powders, and supplement sachets are launching into the active lifestyle market in the very near future.

→ A hefty toll. A UC-Davis study estimates that meatpacking plants were the breeding grounds for 334,000 COVID-19 cases that resulted in $11 billion in economic damage.

→ CRP getting some CPR. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack noted an impending announcement on better incentives for landowners to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program that aligns with President Biden’s 30x30 commitment.

→ Florida’s fall as citrus king. The Sunshine State is forecasted to fall below California in citrus production for the 2020-2021 season for the first time in part due to citrus greening disease, hurricane damage, and farm ground redevelopment.

→ Banana carpet? TexFad, a Ugandan startup, is using natural banana fibers to produce environmentally friendly goods like carpet and clothes with plans to export to the U.S. and Canada this year.

→ Under pressure. The USDA is being asked why JBS, the mega-meat company, has been given $100+ million trade aid despite the owners' guilty plea for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

→ Walmart gets an F. The retail giant got a hand slap from a recent survey in Latin America of egg suppliers who use various caged environments for chickens.

→ Not your mother’s batteries. Scientists at the Kansas Polymer Research Center are using soybean residue to create activated carbon material for the $100 billion battery market.

With the annihilation power straight out of Star Wars, Seattle-based Carbon Robotics is on a roll with the latest revamp of their weed-killing robot.

Equipped with cameras and industrial 150-watt carbon dioxide lasers usually tasked with slicing metal, the machine identifies different weeds and targets the optimal location for destruction.

How it works: Using computer vision - the same technology that recognizes your Aunt Karen in family Facebook photos - the machine learns the features of various crops and weeds. Labeled images are run through the machine’s neural net to teach it what to kill, where to target, and how much energy is needed.

The robot relies on GPS to navigate the field, running 5 miles per hour to tackle 15-20 acres per day. It’s geared toward early-stage weed growth in vegetable and fruit crops.

Looking to buy? Carbon Robotics sells the robots or offers lease-to-own plans. But if you want to get your hands on one, you’ll have to hang tight - they’re sold out for 2021 as farmers in top specialty crop-growing states clamor for the tech.

The robots address a critical challenge for growers of labor-intense crops: finding folks to do the weeding. Farm labor comes with a hefty price tag, too - building a strong ROI story for the autonomous machines. This method of weed control also leaves the soil untouched, benefitting soil health.

What’s next: Farm robotics are the future. With universities and companies alike investing in ag autonomy, hands-on tasks like harvesting and weeding may be a thing of the past before we know it.

MAGNETIC'S MUST-SEE STUFF

Ag policy 101. Need a rundown of the major ag issues in D.C.? Check out American Farm Bureau’s 2021 Briefing Book on the key topics being discussed.

A global perspective. Tune into this recorded panel from the recent Top Producer where 5 farmers from across the world share what they’re most excited about in the future of ag.

Is ryegrass right for you? Determine if this or other cover crops are right for your operation by checking out the University of Illinois’ new Cover Crop Decision Support Tool.

Since the late 1970s, the Beef Checkoff-funded Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program has been on a single mission:

Raise the confidence of everyday consumers so they can take pride in the beef they purchase and have trust in the entire beef industry.

Their recipe for success is tried and true.

Mix common sense husbandry techniques with accepted scientific knowledge to raise cattle under optimum management and environmental conditions.

But BQA doesn’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk.

The national program beefs up the cattle producer’s toolbox with resources, training, and certifications to help them responsibly raise cattle and produce a high-quality beef product.

From transportation training to biosecurity templates or animal movement logs to stockmanship stewardship programs, they’ve got everything a modern-day beef producer would need.

Discover all BQA has to offer and move the beef industry forward.

Talk to just about anyone connected to the ag industry today and you will see their face light up when the conversation inevitably turns to commodity prices. After all, higher commodity prices are good for everyone…

Minus one audience: bankers.

Farm lending has been on the slow track for a while now, and that train kept rolling into the first quarter of 2021.

Not exactly welcome news if you’re the one with money to lend.

The Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank found that overall non-real estate farm lending in the first quarter dropped about 10% compared to last year. Within that group, loans to cover operating expenses are down almost 20% year over year, to a level not seen since 2012.

Worth noting: Hefty government aid via pandemic relief likely also contributed to the decrease in lending activity.

The outlook: Most economists seem to agree that commodity prices will remain strong through 2021, but higher input costs could curb overall profits on the farm. And you can bet ag lenders will be watching those income statements closely to see if loan applications will be headed their way anytime soon.