JBS USA announced it will build a state-of-the-art
sausage plant in Perry, Iowa. Just over a year ago, Tyson Foods closed
its pork processing plant in the same town. Construction on the $135
million facility next to Perry's industrial park on the city's
southeast side is expected to start in late 2025, and begin operations
in late 2026. The new facility plans to produce 130 million pounds of
sausage, processing 500,000 sows per year. The facility is expected to
begin with one shift of 250 people, with plans to double the workforce
and eventually operate two shifts.
Total pork stocks in cold storage at the end of April
were reported at 455.8 million pounds, down 9% from last year. Pork
bellies in the freezer were quoted at 59.6 million pounds, down 17
million pounds from a year earlier. Total beef stocks in cold storage
were pegged at 418.1 million pounds (98%), while total chicken stocks
were up 2% on the year at 755.3 million pounds.
Cargill announced it was investing $90 million in
automation and new technologies at its Fort Morgan, Colorado, beef
plant. One of the first technologies to be implemented will be CarVe,
Cargill's proprietary, patent-pending computer vision technology. CarVe
measures red meat yield in real time, giving frontline managers instant
insights and the ability to share feedback with employees to improve
their cutting technology, keeping more protein in the food system that
other-wise would be lost in the process. Cargill has also invested in
the Fort Morgan community with a $40 million development project for
employee housing.
The CME has made several changes to the specs and
listing schedules for live cattle and feeder cattle futures. The
listing schedule has been expanded to 10 months for live cattle futures
and 9 months for feeder cattle futures effective June 9th. That means
that August 2026 feeder cattle futures is now listed. The CME also
changed the weight specs on the live cattle contract by increasing the
maximum delivery weight for live graded heifers by 75 pounds and by 50
pounds for live graded steers. They also have removed the $1.50 per
cwt. discount during the October contract month in the
Iowa/Minnesota/South Dakota delivery territory.
Grains
US federal prosecutors have accused two Chinese
nationals of smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen that had the
potential to be used as an agricultural terrorism weapon into the US
for research. Yunging Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, were charged with
conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud according to
the complaint filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District
of Michigan. The FBI arrested Jian of the alleged smuggling into the US
of a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature
classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon. The fungus is known to
cause head blight in wheat, barley, corn, and rice, and is responsible
for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. Jian is
a scholar at the University of Michigan, and her boyfriend, Liu, works
at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same
pathogen. A single smuggling charge comes with up to 20 years in prison.
A state appeals court in Missouri on May 27th affirmed
a trial court's $661 million product-liability judgement in favor of
four plaintiffs who alleged Bayer's active ingredient glyphosate caused
their non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The three-judge panel of the Missouri
Court of Appeals Western District rejected all seven points of appeal
filed by Bayer. Bayer has appealed to the Supreme Court.
Bartlett, a Savage company, announced plans to purchase
Ceres Global Ag Corp. in a deal valued at $140 million. Ceres operates
10 agricultural, energy, and industrial products facilities across
Minnesota, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. It also owns partnership
interests in three agricultural joint partnerships in Minnesota and
North Dakota. The acquisition will add 45 million bushels of grain and
oilseed storage capacity to Bartlett's portfolio. Bartlett currently
operates 16 grain facilities and 3 flour mills in the US, and has 4
locations in Mexico. In September of 2024, it completed construction of
a 49-million-bushel sorghum processing plant in Cherryvale, Kansas.
As of June 8th, the USDA reported the crop condition
score for corn at 71% good-excellent versus 74% last year. The soybean
crop was rated at 68% good-excellent versus 72% for the same week in
2024. Kansas corn was rated at 64% good-excellent and soybeans at 65%
good-excellent. Nebraska corn was rated at 69% good-excellent and
soybeans at 66%.