Your Pro Farmer newsletter (January 20, 2024) is now available

Brazil’s once-record soybean crop continues to shrink, but there are a very wide range of estimates. The low end of the private crop estimates is 14 MMT to 22 MMT (514 million bu. to 808 million bu.) below USDA’s January forecast. If the worst-case scenarios play out, USDA will need to slash the Brazilian export forecast. Brazil is facing some soybean quality issues, too, which could have export ramifications. Meanwhile, Argentina is poised for a “super harvest,” with corn and soybean production estimates likely to keep climbing. On the ag policy front, after months of inactivity on farm bill, there was a flurry of news and activity from both House and Senate Ag panels, suggesting a new farm bill in 2024 is still a possibility. Geopolitically, Middle East tensions are escalating, which impacts supply chains and could have global economic consequences. Our page 4 feature this week looks at other U.S. and global economic factors. We cover all of these items and much more in this week’s newsletter, which you can download here.