The global pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness in America. According to research conducted by Harvard University, statistics showed that 36% of all Americans feel "serious loneliness". Loneliness has appeared to have increased substantially since the outbreak of the global pandemic.

Some of 2022’s volatility is gone, but low carryover of wheat stocks and uncertainties are expected to keep prices relatively high as farmers enter the new year.

USDA released its December World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report Dec. 9, 2022, that included no substantial changes for global and domestic wheat markets.

As the holiday season and the end of year approaches and markets tend to slow, spring wheat prices have also slowed slightly.

The Ukrainian port of Odesa was not operating on Sunday after the latest Russian attack on the region's energy system, Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said, but added that grains traders were not expected to suspend exports. Two other ports - Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi - authorised to export grains from Ukraine under a deal between Russia and Ukraine were partially operating, he said. "Chornomorsk port is now operating at about 80% of capacity," Solsky told Reuters in a phone call.

Based on the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Ukraine is now expected to export 4.2 million tonnes of grain in the next four months, up from 1.8 million tonnes in a previous estimate, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

A coalition of U.S. farm and food industry groups recently expressed support for a bipartisan Congressional agreement that, in part, maintains navigational access to the Lower Snake River Dams. The Agricultural Transportation Working Group noted that the Water Resources Development Act* (WRDA) of 2022 helps protect U.S. agriculture’s dependence on comprehensive transportation system including inland waterways and ports.