Strait of Hormuz

TFI Responds to Strait of Hormuz Reopening

The Fertilizer Institute recently released a statement on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The organization called the Strait of Hormuz, “a critical transit route for fertilizer and energy markets. Significant volumes of fertilizer products and raw materials transit the region each year, making stability and predictability essential to agricultural supply chains worldwide.” TFI President and CEO, Corey Rosenbusch …

jbs usa

JBS USA Closes Facilities in Pennsylvania and Tennessee

JBS USA has recently announced the closure of two facilities located in Pennsylvania and Tennessee. According to the JBS website, “The closures include: Beef production facility in Souderton, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia) and Value-added facility in Memphis, Tennessee” Wesley Batista Filho, CEO of JBS USA said, “These decisions are never easy because they directly affect our team members and …

Cattle on Feed Report

Cattle on Feed Report Released Early for Holiday

Markets are closed tomorrow for the Juneteenth government holiday, as are banks and post offices. As a result, USDA is releasing the monthly cattle on feed report after the close today. Average trade estimates generally agree the total number of cattle on feed will be up one to two percent, but there is nowhere near consensus on the number of …

research

Secretary Rollins Announces $125 Million Annual Investment into Agriculture Research Facilities

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon recently held a roundtable discussion where they announced the implementation of the FY2026 Funding Opportunity for Research Facilities Act program. According to a press release by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts provided $125 million annually for the Research Facilities Act program, …

Social Security

Social Security Administration Annual Report

The Social Security Administration’s Board of Trustees’ 2026 annual report confirms what’s been talked about and written about for over 25 years, and that is that Social Security financial safety net for disabled workers and seniors will completely exhaust accumulated reserves in less than 10 years. Officials say once reserve funds dry up, money collected from payroll taxes of existing …

Federal Reserve

Federal Reserve Board to Meet In Late July

Federal Reserve Board opens its two-day June meeting today. Very little chance of any interest rate cut. The Feds last met in late April. Jerome Powell’s last meeting as chairman, Kevin Warsh, was sworn in on May 22, becoming the 17th chairman of the board. Recent economic reports, escalation of action in Iran, leaving very little chance of any Fed …

grain producers

USDA Chief Economist Provides Forecast for Winter Wheat Production

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the Winter Wheat Production forecast for June 2026 and the USDA Chief Economist Justin Benevidez provides his observations on the forecast. “The decline in production, I’ve realized this is going to be some of the lowest production since 1965, our lowest production since that period. Last year, percent rated good to excellent was around 52 percent, …

fertilizer

Fertilizer Impacts on the Southeast

Southern Ag Today has recently published an article about fertilizer and how fertilizer is priced and how it moves to get to the farmers across our country. Overall, fertilizer markets remain highly dependent on a relatively small number of producing regions and key global trade routes because nitrogen, phosphate, and potash each rely on different raw materials and supply chains, geopolitical disruptions can affect fertilizer …

SpaceX IPO

SpaceX IPO and Iran Conflict Have The Attention of Wall Street

The $1.7 billion SpaceX IPO and Iranian military action have the full attention of traders on Wall Street as we end the week. Bottom Line financial analysts think it’s interesting how many articles have been written the past six months that suggest caution toward participating in today’s SpaceX IPO. Now the numbers are staggering at over $1.7 billion. Bottom Line analysts, though, suggest following …

usda

USDA FSA Highlights Expanded Payment Limitations and Eligibility Provisions

The USDA Farm Service Agency is highlighting the expanded payment limitations and eligibility provisions affecting their program payments. We caught up with Richard Fordyce, Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation, to learn more. “You know, the One Big Beautiful Bill, it’s now been almost a year since that was signed into law, but as you know, because we’ve talked about …