GRAIN CALLS
Corn: 3 to 5 cents higher.
Soybeans: 4 to 6 cents higher.
Wheat: SRW 7 to 9 cents higher; HRW 10 to 12 cents higher; HRS 9 to 11 cents higher.
GENERAL COMMENTS: Corn, soybeans and wheat each favored the upside in overnight trade, with buying efforts intensifying this morning. Outside markets showed higher volatility overnight, as S&P 500 futures are trading over 1% lower and the U.S. dollar index is around 525 points lower. Gold futures are trading at record highs and front-month crude oil futures are seeing corrective buying.
House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.) and Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member John Boozman (R-Ark.) are actively advocating for a new farm bill. However, they anticipate the necessity of another extension of the 2018 Farm Bill to allow more time for the completion of a new package. Boozman expressed at the Republican National Convention that an extension would be beneficial for farmers. Despite potential Republican gains in the upcoming November elections, Thompson stated that this would not affect their legislative efforts. He emphasized a consistent approach to agriculture legislation, regardless of political changes, expressing a commitment to continued work in this area.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) expressed concerns about former President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs. At the Republican National Convention, Thune, who has previously opposed tariffs, emphasized that any new tariffs should be targeted to minimize negative impacts on agriculture. “I’m not a big fan of tariffs, and I made that clear during the last Trump administration,” Thune said at an event held by Politico and CNN at the convention. Thune said he’ll wait to push back until he sees what Trump’s tariff policies will look like. If he imposes “uniform tariffs across the board,” Thune said, “we’re going to have some serious conversations about that,” as they could expose the agriculture sector to retaliatory actions.
Food and agriculture AI startup Cropin Technology Solutions has unveiled a real-time intelligence solution to forecast future yields for 13 crops that account for 80% of global food needs. The company unveiled Sage, powered by Alphabet Inc.’s Google Gemini AI model, which converts the world’s agricultural landscape into a proprietary grid-based map and then delivers precise predictive intelligence based on historical data. The company’s technology fuses generative AI with four decades of climate data, earth data and knowledge graphs to decode each crop country-by-country and predict how a certain crop will behave this season, next year or over the next five years.
CORN: December corn futures saw continued strength overnight. Bulls are seeking to overcome resistance at $4.15, which capped last week’s rally. Further strength finds resistance at $4.19 3/4. Support lies at $4.07 1/4 then last week’s for-the-move low at $4.03.
SOYBEANS: November soybean futures build on Tuesday’s gains overnight. Additional strength seeks to overcome the psychological $10.50 mark, while further resistance stands at $10.61 1/2. Support lies at $10.40 then Tuesday’s for-the-move low at $10.37 1/4.
WHEAT: December SRW futures saw impressive buying this morning. Bulls are looking to overcome initial resistance at $5.65 3/4 before tackling the psychological $5.75 mark. Support lies at $5.55 1/2 then the psychological $5.50 mark on resurgent selling pressure.
LIVESTOCK CALLS
CATTLE: Choppy/lower.
HOGS: Higher.
CATTLE: Live cattle futures and feeders are expected to open with a mostly weaker tone as prices are likely to continue to trade in a tight, sideways range. August futures have traded almost entirely within the $182.00 handle in the past week, seeing limited strength above $183.00 and limited weakness below $182.00. Wholesale beef prices ended Tuesday lower as Choice cutout sunk $2.23 to $319.26 and Select fell $3.23 to $301.59. Fading wholesale prices are typical for this time of year as demand slows as temperatures rise, especially for non-ground beef.
HOGS: Lean hog futures are expected to open higher on a continuation of Tuesday’s strength. August futures broke out on the daily bar chart in Tuesday’s surge higher, which generally breeds additional upside. The CME lean hog index is up 20 cents to $88.62 as of July 15, marking consecutive days of modest gains. Pork cutout rose $2.58 to $100.87 Tuesday, topping the $100.00 mark for the first time since June 14. Hams led the way higher Tuesday, but seasonal belly gains generally pick up around this time of year as BLT season is in full swing, which could continue to support wholesale pork.