2018 ARC and PLC payments were issued in early October. Very few Iowa counties received any ARC-CO payments again this year. Final 2018/19 MYA prices were $3.61 for corn and $8.48 for soybeans, which resulted in a final 2018 PLC payment rate of $0.09 for corn but $0 for soybeans.
As we wrap up 2019, we look ahead to year 2020! We will be wrapping up our American Feed Industry Association Social Media Campaign in January and after that, we will be starting our Missouri Commodity Flow and Infrastructure Social Media Campaign.
We had unnormal weather events throughout 2019 April and May in the Midwest and Iowa that led to very significant delays in the corn planting process, which was one of the main reasons that the July corn future prices changed abnormally.
Our Decision Innovation Solutions team usually approaches complex projects by assigning specific segments of a project to individual team members. I have had the pleasure of being assigned to the Aquaculture segment of the animal food production industry. One of the tools I have used is the USDA Census of Aquaculture. This census is conducted every 5 years in conjunction with the USDA Census of Agriculture.
According to the January 2020 USDA Cattle on Feed Report, the total inventory of U.S. cattle on feed in 1,000+ capacity feedlots was almost 12 million head, up 2% from the previous year.
Wind energy has been harnessed for thousands of years. Early users of wind energy propelled their boats, grinded grain, pumped water and managed bodies of water creatively using wind power. In 1850, Daniel Halladay and John Burnham patented the first commercial windmill and established the first wind engine company in the U.S. How has wind energy harvesting changed since 1850? Today, the main use for wind energy is to generate electricity
In March of 2020 I had the privilege to be one of the leaders of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation 2020 Market Study Tour to Brazil. I serve as a consultant to Iowa Farm Bureau through Decision Innovation Solutions. Twenty-three of us travels to the heart of the Amazon and other areas along the Amazon River and in Mato Grosso to look at agriculture, transportation and grain handling infrastructure.
U.S. pork muscle cut export volume was up 9% to 2.176 million metric tons (MT) in 2019 compared with 2018 (see Figure 1). 2019 U.S. pork muscle cut exports were boosted by large shipments to China despite high retaliatory tariffs on U.S. pork. China's drastic swine herd reduction due to the African Swine Fever (ASF) has caused lower Chinese pork production and considerably higher domestic pork prices.
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting essentially all areas of our personal and professional lives. “Social distancing”, a term never heard in all my (increasing!) years, may end up being the “phrase of the year” before this challenge is put in the rear view.
As a general rule, pets are considered “family” in the United States. More than 100 million U.S. families have a pet at home. For the one-year time period, June 2018 to May 2019, pet owners spent more than $30 billion on 9.8 million tons of pet food products.
