USDA Offers Additional Assistance for Certain Producers Through Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide additional assistance through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), expanding eligibility for some agricultural producers and commodities as well as updating payments to accurately compensate some producers who already applied for the program. Producers who are now eligible and those who need to modify existing applications due to these updates can contact USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) between Jan. 19 and Feb. 26. Some of these changes are being made to align with the recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 while others are discretionary changes being made in response to ongoing evaluation of CFAP.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has left a deep impact on the farm economy, and we are utilizing the tools and monies available to ease some of the financial burdens on American producers to ensure...

Urner Barry Releases January Soy and Wheat Protein Report

Following initially dismal reports on wheat consumption, the USDA recently lifted global wheat consumption estimations by 5.1 million tons to 757.8 million tons based on higher demand for feed in China. Driven by a recovering pork market, China poses a strong demand side pull on...

FDA Warns Whole Foods Market After Repeated Food Recalls for Undeclared Allergens

Today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted a warning letter issued to Whole Foods Market for a pattern of receiving and offering for sale misbranded food products necessitating a series of food recalls for allergens. In the last year, Whole Foods Market has recalled more than 30 food products because the presence of major food allergens was not listed on the finished product labels. The FDA noticed similar patterns of numerous recalls by Whole Foods Market for undeclared allergens in previous years as well. These products included...

Urner Barry Releases First Soy and Wheat Protein Report

Demand for Vital Wheat Gluten (VWG), a primarily functional ingredient used to strengthen bakery items, hamburger and hotdog buns, and as a key component in vegetarian seitan, has remained relatively stable. Primarily a byproduct of ethanol production in the generation of European energy, VWG has minimal effect on price and demand dynamics of raw wheat....

PODCAST: An Economic Point of View - Will Sawyer of CoBank

This week on Market Digest Laura speaks with CoBank Lead Protein Industry Analyst, Will Sawyer. Will brings his expertise to the plate as they discuss holiday demand for protein items, protein supply, the beef complex, corn and soy inflation, and...

Lightlife Strengthens Walmart Partnership by Expanding Tempeh to 3,500 Stores 

Greenleaf Foods, SPC announced a significant retail expansion of its Lightlife brand Tempeh—a versatile, high-protein, naturally-fermented food that appeals to plant-based and meat eaters alike. Lightlife Tempeh is now available in more than 3,500 Walmart locations nationwide—a more than ten-fold growth from its previous 300 stores—bringing the product’s retail distribution to over 18,500 retail locations. Lightlife is the market leader in tempeh, having grown at a rate of 44% in 2020 alone.

“Lightlife Tempeh accounted for about 80% of total U.S. tempeh dollar sales so far this year,” said Dan Curtin, president of Greenleaf Foods, SPC. “We are excited to grow our partnership with...

Tyson Foods Announces Global Forest Protection Standard

Tyson Foods, Inc. announced a Forest Protection Standard focused on reducing deforestation risk in its global supply chain of four commodities – cattle and beef; soy; palm oil; and pulp, paper and packaging.

Earlier this year, Tyson Foods partnered with Proforest to conduct a deforestation risk assessment. The assessment concluded that nearly 94 percent of the company’s land footprint is at no to low risk of being associated with deforestation. To proactively address the remaining six percent that was found to be...

Delaying Commoditization of Plant Proteins 

One of the leading hurdles in maintaining and growing an agri-food business is that farmers and processors are inherently limited in their ability to differentiate food items purchased by the consumer. If someone presented you with two glasses of milk from completely different farms your ability to separate the two by taste, smell, or visual perceptions is generally quite limited. When producers sell homogeneous products like fluid milk, corn, or soybeans these products become categorized as commodities where market shifts affect all sellers irrespective of farm level operations. For this reason, producers of commodity goods must accept downstream prices which often offer extremely tight or “non-existent” margins. Therefore, the incentive to differentiate or de-commoditize products to...

USTR and USDA Release Report on Agricultural Trade Between the United States and China

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a report highlighting the progress made to date in implementing the agricultural provisions in the U.S.-China Phase One Economic and Trade Agreement, which is delivering historic results for American agriculture.

Since the Agreement entered into force, the United States and China have addressed a multitude of structural barriers in China that had been impeding exports of U.S. food and agricultural products. To date, China has implemented at least...

Soy Protein: An Introduction and Import Assessment

If you are like a growing number of shoppers across the globe, checking the ingredients label on the back of food items has become instinctual. One such ingredient, soybeans and further processed soybean powders (like flours, concentrates, and isolates), have garnered increased media attention partly associated with its use in a growing number of novel, plant-based products. Generally, goods containing soy are considered either “traditional soyfoods” which use whole soybeans in the creation of more obvious items like soy milks, tofu, and soy sauces or “formulated foods” which contain concentrated forms of soy protein in products including comminuted meats, protein bars, soups, cereals, frozen desserts, and meat analogues.

Like peas and lentils, the soybean (Glycine max) is a species of legume plant and has numerous invaluable production applications. Most widely grown in...

A Snapshot of Plant-Based Protein Growth Amid the Pandemic 

Alternative protein markets, and those specifically utilized in the production of plant-based meat analogues, continue to boon as a result of COVID-19 economic implications. Primarily used to produce beef-like substitutes, products from companies like...

Brazil Soy Prices Near 2012 High

Soy prices in Brazil neared an eight-year high this week, after robust exports left the country with low stocks just as planting for the 2020/2021 season begins, according to data from University of Sao Paulo's Cepea research center.

Prices hit a high of 150.86 reais ($27.13) per 60-kg sack during the week, near the record of 153.40 reais set in 2012, Cepea said. Domestic soy prices had pared back gains by Friday to 146.63 reais per sack.

The data is based on prices in the region of the port city Paranaguá in Parana state and is...

Cargill to Advance Regenerative Farming Practices 

Cargill is supporting farmer-led efforts to adopt practices and systems foundational to regenerative agriculture practices across 10 million acres of North American farmland over the next 10 years.

The initiative will focus primarily on row crop rotations that include corn, wheat, canola and soybeans and other staple crops. Cargill expects these regenerative agriculture practices to benefit the long-term profitability and resiliency of farmers while simultaneously advancing the company's progress against its science-based climate commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its global supply chains by 30 percent per ton of product by 2030. The initiative will also...

PODCAST: Go With the Grain – Glenn Smith on Feed Ingredients

Glenn Smith, Director of Feed Ingredient Procurement at Wayne Farms, returns this week to Market Digest! Laura and Glenn discuss the increased demand for protein items as...

Study Quantifies Value of Red Meat Exports to U.S. Corn, Soybeans

Since 2015, indirect exports of corn and soybeans through beef and pork exports has been the fastest-growing category of corn and soybean use, delivering critical returns for corn and soybean farmers. These producers support the international promotion of U.S. beef, pork and lamb by investing a portion of their checkoff dollars in market development efforts conducted by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

USMEF has released an updated version of the independent study aimed at quantifying the value red meat exports provide to U.S. corn and soybean producers. The original study was conducted in 2016 with updates also released in 2018 and 2019. Key findings from the latest version, which utilizes 2019 export data, include...

China Approves Import of First Domestic GM Soybean for Feed Use

China has approved the import of two new genetically modified (GM) soybean varieties, including one developed by local firm Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co Ltd, its agriculture ministry said on Tuesday, making it the first Chinese engineered soybean allowed for import.

Dabeinong signed an agreement with Argentinian biotechnology company Bioceres SA in 2013 to help it get regulatory approval for production of its DBN-Ø9ØØ4-6 glufosate and glufosinate-resistant soybean in Argentina.

The Argentinian authorities granted safety approval for the variety in February 2019 but it has not yet been planted, pending approval by...

University of Copenhagen: Fava Beans Could Replace Soy

Tofu, soy milk and veggie mince. More and more Danes are opting to supplement or completely replace their consumption of animal-based proteins with plant-based proteins. Climate considerations are part of their reasoning.

We often use soy-based protein when experimenting with vegetarian cooking. But, new research from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Food Science demonstrates that fava beans hold great promise as a non-soy source of plant protein. Moreover, favas are...

Coronavirus Hits Chinese Soy Supply Chain, Lowering Consumption and Import Needs

The outbreak of coronavirus (designated as Covid-19 by the WHO) will hit Chinese soy oil and soymeal consumption, primarily in Q1 and early Q2 2020. Barring an extreme escalation of the epidemic, both are expected to register a robust rebound in 2H 2020.

Due to weakened Chinese demand, strong competition from South America, and seasonal trade patterns, China’s import pace of US soybeans will remain slow in the coming months. Lower-than-previously-anticipated procurement of US soybeans, might run the risk of reigniting the trade war during the US election campaign.

This research is based on the information available to date. As the situation remains fluid, Rabobank is closely monitoring the developments and...