Ukraine

The dollars-and-cents counter on the gas pump seems to be spinning faster these days with U.S. prices hitting another record high.

President Joe Biden vowed to help American farmers try to ease a global spike in food prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as he visited a family farm and unrolled policies meant to increase harvests in ways that could also help to reduce grocery bills at home.

The European Commission proposed helping Ukraine export its wheat and other grains by rail, road and river to get around a Russian blockade of Black Sea ports, which is preventing those critical supplies from reaching parts of the world at risk of food insecurity.

The Consumer Price Index, a gauge of inflation, hit a 40-year high last month, and most economists expected the same report this week to show an improvement. In fact, there was nary an economist or analyst that was not looking for some improvement and easing of inflation.

A decline in world and U.S. wheat stocks and an unexpected early move away from the trend-line corn yield provide some bullish fodder when the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s supply and demand estimates were issued.

A first look at the next marketing year balance sheets that included the potential impact of Ukraine crop production due to the Russian invasion was released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Due to the highest inflation rate in 40 years, the Federal Reserve this week hiked interest rates to the tune of 0.5%, the largest single rate hike since 2000. Historically, the Fed raises or lower rates by 0.25%.

One of the more confounding political riddles pundits love to debate is how Democrats “lost” rural America. If the past month is any indication, however, it looks less like the Dems lost rural America and more like they are just lost in rural America.

In 2021, dairy product exports totaled 17.3% of U.S. total milk solids production, a record for the U.S. dairy industry. Coupled with imports at 3.2% of U.S. total milk solids production and you have the largest positive trade balance ever for dairy.

A train carrying 2,000 metric tons of Ukrainian corn arrived in Austria, part of European efforts to elude a Russian blockade of Ukraine’s ports that has prevented critical supplies of wheat, corn and other grains from getting to countries in Africa, Middle East and part

An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Concerns over tighter margins despite higher crop prices were common across the Federal Reserve districts in the latest Beige Book survey.

The strength with most commodity markets early this week was wildly bullish. But the weakness seen with most of those same markets at the end of the week was bearish.

Corn and sunflower planting season has arrived for Ukrainian farmers, bringing a multitude of other concerns and uncertainties that stretch across the globe as Russia continues its invasion.