USDA Releases Uneventful December WASDE

The December USDA WASDE report released Thursday morning was quite uneventful.

 

Dan Basse is president of AgResource Company in Chicago.

 

"No real big changes," he said. "If there was a surprise, it was in soybeans where USDA did not increase the US export estimate. Instead, they chose to increase the crush rate by 15 million bushels to a record 2.2 billion bushels. The corn end stocks total was the same. They did make a modest adjustment in wheat, causing a five million bushel decline in U.S. wheat imports."

 

Basse commented on the global numbers.

 

"At the end of the day, when you look at the world balance sheet, the Canadian crop was raised slightly. The Australian crop was raised 1.5 million metric tons. Russia went up. World wheat stocks dropped four million metric tons due to increased export demand. As we come back from this report, it's all going to be about South American weather. The markets have sold off just slightly on the news but it's not something that we believe will be sustained unless those South American crops get a drink of rain and improving conditions as we look forward to 2021."

 

Basse says Tom Vilsack is a name being mentioned to take over as the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

Video: Season 6, Episode 12: Veterinarians’ Perspectives on Managing Swine Herd Health Across All Phases

Identifying challenges in swine production and turning them into solutions through research and team development is the focus of this episode. Dr. Christine Mainquist-Whigham of Pillen Family Farms and DNA Genetics shares insights on herd health, biosecurity and trial work to improve pig performance. She also discusses her team’s research philosophy, how they evaluate rate of investment and how they gather feedback from employees to address challenges and maintain herd health across all phases of production. Dr. Carlos Roudergue of Country View Family Farms discusses the growing complexity of swine production, especially as technology increases and employee interaction decreases. He also shares how their workforce is shifting toward more specialized roles to support herd health and efficiency.