Your Pro Farmer newsletter (March 16, 2024) is now available

Brazil cut its soybean and corn crop estimates, further widening the already wide gap between its forecasts and those from USDA. Markets are focused on the historically wide production differences, but key for prices will be changes to U.S. exports based on any crop adjustments by Conab or USDA. The International Grains Council projects record global grain and soybean production in 2024, which is expected to sharply increase world ending stocks for both. President Joe Biden proposed a $7.3 trillion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2025. A good portion of Biden’s proposals, especially on tax-increase revenues, will not be approved. But it shows Biden’s priorities ahead if he is re-elected. The USDA budget requests show a continued push for nutrition funding and a concerted effort toward equity (income redistribution) rather than focusing on production agriculture. Our News page 4 feature this week looks at an important issue for farmers in the years ahead – and a potential revenue builder – carbon intensity. We cover all of these items and much more in this week’s newsletter, which you can download here.