Ag in the News

06/20/2008

National

Agriprocessors' external stakeholders are getting restless
While a representative for Agriprocessors Inc. says the company continues to rebuild its business after a May Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid saw the arrest of about one-third of its employees, some customers have switched to other sources of kosher meats, and other interested parties are encouraging boycotts of Agriprocessors' products. MORE!

Bob Evans' Owens Foods unit to double plant size, hire workers
Bob Evans Farms' Owens Foods unit said it plans to double the size of its Sulphur Springs, Texas, food production plant and hire up to 120 new workers. MORE!

FSIS posts second HIKE scenario this year
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service has posted on its Web site the second Humane Interactive Knowledge Exchange scenario this year, this one addressing Cattle Unloading: Slips and Falls. MORE!

NMA to host AMS program development seminar
The National Meat Association announced it will be hosting an AMS program development seminar July 22 in Ontario, Calif., moderated by Vicky Robertson of Vicky Robertson Consulting. MORE!

Fast-casual chains outperform other restaurant types
A new report by foodservice consultancy Technomic reveals that fast-casual chains continue to outperform the entire restaurant industry, while also serving as the main source of growth for limited-service restaurants as a whole. MORE!

Wrap Up

Followthrough selling overnight. Corn and Chicago wheat futures were fractionally to 1 cent lower in most contracts overnight, while soybeans were mostly 3 to 6 cents lower.

NASS will recheck harvested acres ahead of June 30 data. The National Ag Statistics Service will now recheck with farmers in some states their harvested-acreage expectations ahead of the June 30 Acreage Report. Initially, NASS wasn't going to recheck with growers ahead of the release. Here's a link to read more.

U.S.-Korea beef deal. While details of what the two countries worked out in week-long talks in Washington are yet to be revealed, reports say the two sides have agreed on issues surrounding a private-sector arrangement to make sure that no beef from animals over 30 months gets exported to South Korea. Press reports say the details will be announced in Korea Saturday.

Cattle on Feed today. Traders expect USDA's monthly Cattle on Feed Report to show On Feed numbers around 3% under year-ago due to lighter Placements and heavier Marketings during May. The average pre-report trade guess puts On Feed at 97.2%, Placements at 90.4% and Marketings at 101.7% of year-ago levels.