Your Pro Farmer newsletter (July 20, 2024) is now available.

High winds and heavy rains ripped through portions of the central Corn Belt last week, though damage didn’t appear nearly as severe as the 2020 derecho. Otherwise, weather remains relatively favorable for a good portion of U.S. corn and soybean areas. Given strong yield and production outlooks, funds remain comfortable holding record net short positions in the corn and soybean markets. The extended weather forecast suggests the second half of the growing season will be warmer-than-normal with varied rainfall, though drought is not expected to develop. On the political front, an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump failed just ahead of the Republican National Convention. Trump tabbed Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate for the November elections. Our page 4 feature this week takes a look at the Trump/Vance team’s stance on key issues for agriculture, trade and biofuels. We cover all of these items and much more in this week’s newsletter, which you can download here.