From the Mississippi River to the Panama Canal, this year’s drought has resulted in low water levels that are likely to disrupt agricultural production and trade through at least the end of the year.
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Today, the Port of South Louisiana (PortSL) and Ukraine Sea Ports Authority (USPA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), launching a cooperative alliance directed at technical guidance toward planning, development, construction, administration, and operation and maintenance of port infrastructure, particularly when reconstruction begins in Ukraine. This non-binding agreement was signed by PortSL CEO Paul Matthews and USPA-head Yurii Lytvyn (not in attendance) and witnessed by Ukraine Consul General Vitalii Tarasiuk, Consul for Economic Issues Pavlo Moiseischenko, PortSL Commissioners Katie Klibert, D. Paul Robichaux, and Joey Murray, and PortSL staff.
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"This is just another example of India playing games with global food security, citing concerns over domestic supplies despite tens of millions of metric tons in government stocks in addition to what's stored privately," said Bobby Hanks, a Louisiana rice miller and chair of the USA Rice International Trade Policy Committee.
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A deal allowing Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea will expire at the end of Monday after Russia said it will suspend its participation.
The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July, aimed to alleviate a global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian grain blocked by the Russia-Ukraine conflict to be exported safely.
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How can making the Mississippi River deeper by five feet in south Louisiana make a difference? For farmers across the country, it could mean millions of dollars saved. A dredging project from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico of just five feet means an additional 500 thousand bushels of grain can be put on ships headed around the world.
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It has been rough few days for market bulls as the Chicago wheat market scored fresh lows and the corn market tested long-term uptrend support just a few cents above the March lows. The July soybean didn't fare much better as they have taken out the long-term moving averages.
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Farmers in six states would be hurt hardest if Mexico follows through with its proposed ban on genetically modified corn.
Ohio State University professor Ian Sheldon says Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Louisiana are the top exporters to Mexico.
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If the United States takes its complaint against Mexico’s ban on imports of GMO white corn to a USMCA panel, it could take 155 days — until late December or even January — for a final resolution, although a U.S. victory is likely, said three Ohio State University analysts. Mexico would then have the option of keeping the ban in place and accepting U.S. sanctions because of it, they wrote at the farmdoc daily blog.
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For those who have slept since then, back in September USDA was estimating Argentina’s 22-23 corn crop at a record 55.0 million metric tonnes, up 2 MMT from the prior year. Soybean production was pegged at 7 MMT greater, at 51.0 million.
Now all that has changed.
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American agriculture silently is watching the greatest disappearing act in world history. China, the biggest food importer on the planet, is entering the real-time throes of a potentially devastating population crash and the effect could be immense for U.S. farmers.
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Since Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s September announcement that he was ending subsidies for fuel, violent protests and an uptick in gang violence has ravaged the country. This is an escalation of the violence, kidnappings, and theft of food, fuel, and other goods that have been a part of everyday life here since last year’s assassination of Haitian President Moise. U.S. rice exports have been, taken by gangs directly off ships, off trucks after discharging at port, and even taken from humanitarian warehouses.
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The United States will export a record $191 billion worth of agricultural products this fiscal year as the world scrambles to replace the corn, wheat, and vegetable oil it would normally get from Russia and Ukraine, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. It would be the second year in a row of record-high farm exports.
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United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Mexico Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Victor Villalobos met this week to continue cooperation on shared priorities including open trade, science-based policy making, and sustainable and climate-smart agricultural production.
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Located in Port Allen, Louisiana, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge is among the Top 10 largest ports in the United States in terms of tonnage shipped. (It ranked seventh in 2020.) It is the northernmost port on the Mississippi River capable of handling Panamax ships.
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