Nigh: Food commodity markets remain tight, which is not where we want to be globally right now

Following the invasion of Ukraine, we saw big spikes when it came to corn, wheat, soybean oil, and a number of agricultural products. Here in the United States, where are we at right now when it comes to demand, supply, prices, and where do you see it going the rest of this year? Sure. Well, all of those commodities that you just mentioned are global commodities. So, certainly in the U.S., we're gearing up for planting season, but all of the prices are determined in the global market. So, all eyes are on what's going on in South America.

Is Brazil and Argentina going to have big crops, small crops? Certainly large producers of both soybeans and corn to our South. As we look, though, at projections in the wheat market, we're looking at projected ending stocks, which is just the amount of wheat left over after all uses. At their lowest level since 2016-2017 in the corn market, we're about the same as where we have been the last few years. So, those commodity markets remain tight and certainly very weather dependent, which is not necessarily the place globally we'd like to be right now. Yeah, I would imagine that's not, we don't want to be in that situation. So, Ukraine has been called the bread basket of Europe. A recent report out of Ukraine estimates that the Ukraine farming industry has suffered about six and a half billion dollars worth of damage since this conflict started.

I know you're more focused on the United States, but can you give us a sense or an estimate if this conflict were to end? How long would it take for things to get, quote-unquote, back to normal in Ukraine? You know, that's a great question. It's certainly not going to be tomorrow. Unfortunately, the amount of damage that's been done is going to take, unfortunately, years to undo. We look at the damage estimates and they're saying over 84,000 pieces of farm equipment have been destroyed. They're looking at a land mass over that's larger than the state of Georgia in the United States that's riddled with land mines. Most of that's going to be agricultural land. So, it's going to take a long time to actually get those areas safe for farming at its level that it used to be, let alone looking at the damaged infrastructure of the roads in the fort.

So, unfortunately, this is going to be a multi-year build back for Ukraine's agriculture and a problem that for the, for global supplies of agricultural products for a long time. All right, before we let you go, Veronica, I just really want to shift the focus back here to the United States. Globally, we're seeing some of the highest food prices on record. There's a major global concern related to food insecurity on a human level. And of course, that's the top priority. But on a business level, what does this all mean for U.S.

farmers? You mentioned some of those commodities are global. Are these going to be boom times for our U.S. farming industry? Well, the last report certainly spoke to fertilizer prices and that continues to be an issue. Farmers are continuing to see input prices led by fertilizer continue to be high. Fertilizer is also a global commodity and a good portion of it comes from Russia. So, we're seeing some continued disruptions in the fertilizer markets, which end up increasing food prices.

And unfortunately, for farmers, there isn't a lot of room to absorb those increased input costs. So, they end up in the end results as they end up in higher food prices. Agricultural production is a long process. And so, unfortunately, we look at those high prices having a long lasting impact on food prices. Even when they start coming down some, you see a long lag and those prices still being reflected at the grocery store.

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