Ag in the News

02/14/2008

National and International

Tyson will soon close Brazil chicken deal: report
Tyson Foods Inc. next month will finalize the purchase of Pena Branca, the Brazilian chicken company's director told Dow Jones. MORE!

BPI founder receives Beef Industry Vision award
Eldon Roth, founder of Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based Beef Products Inc. (BPI), has received a 2008 Beef Industry Vision award, presented by the National Cattlemen's Foundation. MORE!

Panorama Natural Grass-Fed Beef debuts in more Whole Foods Markets
Panorama Natural Grass-Fed Beef is now being sold in the fresh meat cases of Whole Foods Markets in Colorado and Utah. MORE!

Pork is 'what's in,' says People magazine
Pork is among foods redefining 2008, according to People magazine's February Style Watch. MORE!

Scottsdale restaurant serves up $190 steak
A Scottsdale, Ariz., restaurant has more than doubled the price of the region's most expensive steak, the East Valley Tribune reported. MORE!

Wrap Up

Overnight strength. Chicago wheat futures recovered to trade 15 to 27 cents higher overnight. Soybean futures were mostly 14 to 15 cents higher, while corn was around a nickel higher.

Weekly Export Sales. For the week ended Feb. 7, traders expect: wheat sales from 300,000 to 500,000 MT; corn sales from 800,000 to 1 million MT; soybean sales from 500,000 to 650,000 MT; meal sales from 100,000 to 200,000 MT; soyoil sales from 15,000 to 35,000 MT; and cotton sales from 150,000 to 250,000 running bales.

Grain supply concerns. Today's Wall St. Journal reports on calls for USDA to take action to address tight grain supplies by spurring more production, including taking land out of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). They also note a call by the American Bakers Association to restrict U.S. wheat exports, a request which the article says USDA has rejected. Jim Wiesemeyer has perspective on what the article talks about in his Inside Washington Today column on the Pro Farmer page.

Biotech crop plantings rise. Farmers worldwide planted 282.3 million acres of biotech crops in 2007, an increase of 30.3 million acres, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications. And much of the gains have come in developing parts of the world. The U.S. still leads the world in use of biotech crops, but the U.S. share fell to 50% from 53% the prior year.