Just as the Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show was getting underway last week, USDA launched its pilot Cattle Contracts Library on the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Cattle Contract Library webpage. That provided a timely opportunity for USDA AMS Administrator Bruce Summers and Associate Deputy Administrator Taylor Cox to update the cattle industry during an early morning session at …
CattleFax Predicts Producer Profitability and Drought Relief
The popular CattleFax Outlook Seminar was presented Thursday at the 2023 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show in New Orleans forecasting producer profitability in 2023 and potential drought relief. Prices and profitability will again favor cattle producers in 2023. The cattle industry is entering 2023 with the smallest cattle supply since 2015 as drought caused the industry to dig …
U.S. Agricultural Exports Shattered Records in 2021
The American agricultural industry posted its highest annual export levels ever recorded last year, according to the final 2021 trade data from the Department of Commerce. The report shows exports of U.S. farm and food products to the world in 2021 totaled $177 billion, topping the 2020 total by 18 percent and eclipsing the previous record, set in 2014, by …
Cattle Contract Library Act Introduced in House
Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Henry Cuellar (D-TX) this week introduced the bipartisan Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021 to create a library for cattle contracts within the USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service Department equipping cattle producers with market data to make informed decisions in negotiations with meatpackers. Currently, USDA maintains a pork contract library, and following significant volatility in the …
USDA Adopts Market Transparency Policies Backed by NCBA
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association continues work toward and support policies that will help those working in all areas of the cattle industry. “There is no such thing as a silver bullet, one size fits all, policy solution to these issues. It’s going to have to be a multi-faceted broad approach where we kind of take little chunks out of …
NCBA Plan to Voluntarily Increase Price Discovery
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) hopes to voluntarily increase price discovery in the cattle industry with its new “75% Plan.” A shortage of price discovery, particularly in the fed cattle market, has existed because people are using alternative market agreements instead of negotiated trade in many cases, said Tanner Beymer, NCBA Director of Government Affairs and Market Regulatory Policy. …
Marketing Policy Session Wraps up NCBA Summer Meeting
A capacity crowd of cattle producers worked for more than six hours Wednesday to agree on a policy that would help resolve concerns about live cattle marketing issues and lead the industry to more robust price discovery. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Live Cattle Marketing Committee considered several proposals, each aimed at encouraging greater volumes of cash cattle trade. After …
Fed Cattle Exchange Acquired by Central Stockyards
Post updated with Central Stockyards CEO interview The Fed Cattle Exchange weekly fed cattle online auction has been acquired by Central Stockyards, LLC. Since 2016 the Fed Cattle Exchange has provided the cattle industry with weekly, cost-effective cattle auctions that provide a platform for price discovery through competitive bidding. The prices determined in the weekly auctions benefit the entire cattle …
Planted Acreage Report Surprises
USDA’s planted acreage report out Friday contained some surprising numbers for the trade. The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates 89.6 million acres of soybeans planted in the United States for 2018, down 1 percent from last year, and corn area planted is estimated at 89.1 million acres, also down 1 percent from last year. All cotton planted area for …
Cotton Market Update from Mid-South Farm & Gin Show
A larger cotton crop than expected sets tone for an unusual year for the cotton market. Senior Cotton Analyst, Informa Economics, Kip Butts, was on hand at the recent Mid-South Farm & Gin Show to shed light on the current cotton market, where cotton stands with farm bill changes and what 2018 will look like. “I think we will find …