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Recent rain for the Dakotas had little impact on drought… Drought conditions eased across Texas, east-central Colorado and into western Nebraska over the past week, with some drought improvement also noted in western South Dakota and southern areas of North Dakota. “In the High Plains Region, a swath of 1.5 to 3 inches (locally more) of rain fell from western North Dakota southward to eastern Colorado and northwestern Kansas,” according to today’s Drought Summary.

But more improvement is clearly needed on the Northern Plains. All of North Dakota is impacted by abnormal dryness/drought, with 76.7% of the state affected by extreme (D3) or exceptional (D4) drought. Despite some areas of improvement over the past week, drought actually worsened as a whole across South Dakota, with 94.4% of the state dealing with some form of drought/dryness, up 1.2 points from the week prior.

“Reports indicate much of this week’s heavy rains was immediately absorbed by the severely dry soils, with no runoff into empty dugouts or ponds. However, in some locations, the rain fell so quickly that it did not allow time for infiltration into the topsoils, resulting in erosion of topsoils. Furthermore, high wind events have increased the potential for evaporative loss of this moisture from the topsoils,” today’s summary says.

Today’s update says rains favored the western half of the Midwest, with some areas receiving two or more inches of rain. But the best accumulation occurred in areas free of drought. Some spotty drought improvement was noted in southeast Minnesota, western Wisconsin and far southern Iowa. There was some spotty drought degradation in the far eastern Corn Belt. Find related maps here.

 

Exchange raises Argentine soybean crop forecast… The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange raised its Argentina soybean crop estimate by 500,000 MT to  43.5 MMT. The exchange cited “higher than expected yields in the province of Cordoba and north-central Santa Fe province,” for the increase. The exchange also reported harvest advanced to 91.4% complete for soybeans and 30.9% complete for corn. It continues to estimate the Argentine corn crop at 46 MMT.

The exchange also says 10.1% of the expected 2021-22 wheat area has been planted thanks to recent rains. It expects a record crop of 19 MMT.

 

IGC: Use will outpace bigger crops… The International Grain Council cut its total grain production forecast 6 MMT from April to 2.22 billion metric tons, citing a downgrade in Brazil’s corn crop. In addition, IGC raised its global its import forecast for China and its global consumption forecast. This tightened its global grain stock forecast by 9 MMT to 599 MMT, which is a 2.9% retreat from the 2019-20 season.

IGC expects record global wheat and corn production in 2021-22 as higher prices encourage more acres. As a result, total grain production is now forecast up 5 MMT from last month and 72 MMT higher than last year. But IGC forecasts global use of both corn and wheat will also sharply increase. As a result, it projects global corn ending stocks will decline another 6 MMT in 2021-22 and 66 MMT (20.2%) from two years ago. World wheat ending stocks are expected to rise 3 MMT from the current marketing year but the forecast is still down 10 MMT from last month. Total grain stocks are expected to hit a seven-year low in 2021-22.

 

EU raises wheat crop forecast… The European Commission raised its European Union wheat crop estimate by 1.4 MMT to 126.2 MMT, which would be a 9.0-MMT (7.7%) increase from last year. Despite the bigger crop estimate, the commission left its 2021-22 EU wheat export forecast at 30 MMT, though that would be up 3.0 MMT (11.1%) from the current marketing year.

 

Senate panel clears electric car, clean energy credits… The Senate Finance Committee can advance a $259.9-billion package of clean energy tax credits that includes $31.6 billion in consumer incentives for electric cars and would end tax breaks used by the fossil fuel industry. An amendment from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) would exclude electric vehicles produced in China from reaping the credit. The panel also adopted an amendment that would prohibit the importation of solar cells, wind turbines or energy storage equipment that was manufactured using forced labor or child labor. Though there was a 14-14 party-line vote, Democrats can move the bill to the Senate floor under chamber rules.

The legislation would overhaul the current menu of energy tax breaks, consolidating credits for renewable energy sources and offering incentives to any energy source that has no carbon emissions. The legislation provides tax credits for electricity production and investments, tax breaks for energy efficient homes and buildings and incentives for transportation, including electric cars and clean fuels. The plan would also eliminate or scale back $24.5 billion worth of tax breaks benefiting oil, gas and coal. Last-minute expansions to the bill increased the total cost by roughly $45 billion, including an additional $10 billion for electric vehicles. All energy sources — including renewables and fossil fuels — qualify, but they have to have zero or net negative carbon emissions. The plan would also create a production tax credit of up to 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour or an investment tax credit of as much as 30% for those energy sources.

Senate Republicans said the tax breaks are too costly and criticized the decision to wind down breaks for fossil fuels.

 

Climate change activists win two seats on Exxon board… Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Darren Woods suffered a big setback at the hands of a tiny activist investment firm established less than six months ago. At least two of the activist’s nominees won seats on Exxon’s board Wednesday, despite the chief executive’s vocal opposition and an all-hands-on-deck battle by the oil giant to defeat the insurgents. A third seat may yet fall to San Francisco activist Engine No. 1 when the final results from Exxon’s annual meeting are tallied. That would put Woods in the position of leading a board that’s 25% under the control of outsiders. Last-minute efforts by Woods and his team to appease climate-conscious investors and rebuff Engine No. 1’s assault were to no avail.

 

Bayer to rethink Roundup formula for U.S. consumers… Bayer AG said it will evaluate whether to continue using the active ingredient glyphosate in its popular Roundup weedkiller in the residential U.S. market, in the wake of a court setback Wednesday in the company’s efforts to limit future liability over whether the product causes cancer. U.S. States District Judge Vincent Chhabria on Wednesday rejected a multibillion-dollar plan set up by German firm Bayer to settle future lawsuits over its controversial Roundup weed killer product. The company could continue selling products under the Roundup brand but without glyphosate.

 

 

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