Cash Feeder Pig Prices Average $61.37, Up $4.18 Last Week

Nov 18, 2022

This market update is a PorkBusiness.com weekly column reporting trends in weaner pigs. All information contained in this update is for the week ended Nov. 18.

NutriQuest Business Solutions publishes weekly weaner pig profitability calculations which uses industry representative production costs and futures pricing for lean hogs, corn, and soybean meal, using historical basis assumptions, to establish approximate profitability and break-even pricing for the current sale or purchase of weaner pigs. Prices are based on closing futures prices on Nov. 18 and assumes CME Lean Hog Index cost and historical basis assumptions.

When you consider that today’s purchased weaner would be sold in May 2023 using June 2023 futures, the weaner breakeven was $77.32, up $10.70 for the week. Feed costs were up $3.45 per head, and June futures increased $7.70 compared to last week’s May futures, while historical basis is declined from last week by $0.96 per cwt.

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Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.