Your Pro Farmer newsletter (February 24, 2024) is now available

The range of estimates for Brazil’s soybean crop remains extremely wide, especially for this late in the growing season. In that regard and weather wise, there are similarities to 2016. The soybean low in 2016 came on March 2, though dry conditions for safrinha corn fueled that rally. Cuts to Brazil’s safrinha corn crop could lead to higher exports of U.S. corn and be a catalyst for a rally this year. The corn (and soybean) market desperately needs a catalyst to spark an overdue and extended price recovery. It appears the Biden administration will take the proverbial middle ground with upcoming key biofuels policy decisions. As has been the case for years, the government apparently wants to give everyone something and no one everything on the biofuels front. Our News page 4 feature this week looks at some of former President Donald Trump’s trade policy proposals, which could have a major impact on the U.S. ag sector if he’s re-elected, as he intends to get even tougher with China. President Joe Biden has largely followed Trump’s trade policy to date but would not be nearly as aggressive as Trump 2.0. Biden wants to target China more selectively on sensitive and national security grounds. A Biden re-election would continue to de-emphasize new trade agreements and increase regulations. We cover all of these items and much more in this week’s newsletter, which you can download here.