Ag in the News

03/05/2008

National

Beef News And then there were three — JBS deal shrinks processor field, not capacity
JBS S.A.'s agreement to buy National Beef Packing Co. puts 80 percent of the nation's cattle trade in the hands of three big players instead of four, but what the cattle industry really needs is reduced processing capacity for its outlook to improve. MORE!

Smithfield deflects UFCW's latest barbs
Smithfield Packing Co. said Tuesday the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) again has distorted the facts concerning the company's treatment of workers at its Tar Heel, N.C., pork processing plant. MORE!

N.Y. firm recalls meat and poultry products for possible listeria contamination By Janie Gabbett on 3/5/2008 for Meatingplace.com Jamaica, N.Y.-based Gourmet Boutique is voluntarily recalling about 6,970 pounds of meat and poultry products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, USDA announced. MORE!

California lists possible recipients of recalled Hallmark beef
It took the California Department of Public Health 120 pages to list nearly 3,000 restaurants and other businesses in the state that may have received some of the two years' worth of beef that Hallmark/Westland Meat Co. recalled last month. MORE!

Steak 'n Shake unveils new breakfast items
Steak 'n Shake is now offering cooked-to-order breakfast sandwich combos during breakfast hours. MORE!

Coleman Natural Foods launches fully cooked organic chicken products
Golden, Colo.-based Coleman Natural Foods announced the introduction of fully cooked, frozen organic chicken products to its Coleman Organic line. MORE!

Wrap Up

BIG beef sales. If these deals go through, it will create the largest U.S. beef processor. JBS, the firm that last year bought Swift, is in deals to buy the number 4 and 5 U.S. beef processors -- National Beef Packing and the beef processing operations of Smithfield along with an Australian beef processor.JBS will buy the cattle producing joint venture that Smithfield has with the Conti Group. You can read more details on the deal here on AgWeb.com and Jim Wiesemeyer takes a look at the deal from the regulatory side in his Inside Washington Today column on the Pro Farmer page.

Overnight price strength. Tuesday's declines turned into gains in overnight a/c/e trade. Corn futures were 4 to 5 cents higher, soybeans 3 to 8 cents higher and Chicago wheat 7 to 14 cents higher in overnight trade.

Australia plans on wheat exports. Australian plans are to place no restrictions on exporters of wheat once the firms have been granted an export license and they would not limit the number of companies that can be involved in wheat export efforts. These are two key portions of the plan the country has come up with as it seeks to replace the single-desk AWB. However, firms would first have to be approved to take part in the export of wheat.

FAPRI baseline today. The Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) today unveils their longterm baseline projections in Washington. Their projections are in part utilized by lawmakers as they work on things like farm legislation, etc. We'll have a summary of their information when it becomes available.