Dozens of U.S. agriculture industry representatives gathered in Beijing on Thursday to meet Chinese counterparts amid growing U.S. efforts to bolster farm trade even as political ties between their two countries remain strained. A delegation from 11 groups including the U.S. Soybean Export Council, U.S. Grains Council and U.S. Wheat Associates is visiting a week after Chinese grain buyers signed non-binding agreements in Iowa to buy billions of dollars worth of produce, mostly soybeans, the first such signing since 2017.

Competition may be heating up big time in one of Canada’s top markets for grain, oilseeds and pulses. Russian grain exporting company Food Export Trade LLC (FET) signed what is reported to be a US$26 billion contract to supply China with 70 million tonnes of grain, pulses and oilseeds over the next 12 years...Grain in the FET megadeal would be routed through Grain Terminal Zabaikalsk, a grain railway terminal at Russia’s border with China’s Inner Mongolia, according to the website.

With new House Speaker Mike Johnson on the job, work on the new farm bill is expected to ramp up. In October, Johnson, R-La., stated in a letter to colleagues that he wanted the House to pass a farm bill in December and await Senate action, with negotiations to begin "as soon as possible." Chandler Goule, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers, said the House and Senate agriculture committees continued to work on the bill during the leadership shuffle. Goule estimated that the new bill could go to President Joe Biden in the first quarter of 2024.

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) announced today the Idaho Farm and Ranch Conference January 4-5, 2024 in Boise. The Idaho Farm and Ranch Conference is a free event for producers, agribusinesses, organizations, and community leaders to exchange knowledge and expertise that position Idaho agriculture for success. The conference will address key issues affecting Idaho producers including managing finances, succession and stress on the farm.

The U.S. government and plaintiffs in a lawsuit against management of the four lower Snake River dams say they have developed a “package of actions and commitments” that they hope to present in court by Dec. 15. Agricultural stakeholders say they have no idea what’s in the package, including whether it calls for breaching the dams. A coalition of environmental and fishing groups in 2020 sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration over their dam operations plan.

Basis in grain marketing refers to the difference between cash and futures prices. Having a solid understanding of it and its seasonal patterns is crucial to any successful marketing plan. Learn the fundamental concepts involved, including hedging, and explore the basis patterns for wheat in various regions of Idaho in this 8-page bulletin. The information focuses on wheat growers, but other producers can also use the concepts and principles for other crops that have an active futures market.

Recent rains across key Australian wheat growing areas are likely to increase yields, adding several million tons to a crop that had been hit by dry weather and boosting the global supply outlook, analysts said. A larger harvest in Australia, one of the world's biggest exporters, will help to offset crop losses caused by dry conditions in Argentina and Canada, exerting downward pressure on wheat prices Wv1. Rain across many southern regions lifted the wheat harvest outlook to 26 million metric tons from 23 million tons a few weeks ago during Australia's driest September on record, said Stefan Meyer, a grains broker at StoneX in Sydney.