World Ag Expo in California and Cattle Inventory Down 3%
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.**California’s largest agricultural gathering comes to Tulare County, tomorrow through Thursday, with the 2023 World Ag Expo at the International Agri-Center.
Organizers say, the annual event will feature over 1,200 exhibitors and is expected to draw 100,000 attendees from California, other states and over 30 countries.
Among the new innovations highlighted this year is a robotic system that conducts surveillance of bee colonies to protect tree-nut growers from colony collapse.
**USDA’s January 1 cattle inventory report puts the total number of cattle and calves at 89.3 million head, consistent with the expected 3% decline from the year before.
This as cattle producers face a fourth straight year of contraction within the cattle cycle, approaching inventory lows last seen at the start of the current cycle, when producers began rebuilding following the 2012 drought.
Beef production is anticipated to be off 6.5%.
**The Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer Index rose again in January, to a reading of 130, four points above its 2022 year-end value.
The January results also pushed the index 34% above its 2022 low point, from last June.
January’s modest rise was primarily attributable to better expectations for the future as the Future Expectations Index rose five points to 127 while the Index of Current
Conditions changed little from December.