Mexico Changes Course on Corn and Farmer Sentiment Down
From the Ag Information Network, this is your Agribusiness Update.
**A 2022 University of Wisconsin study claimed U.S. farmers had converted several million acres of pristine grassland and other “semi-natural areas” to cropland in response to the Renewable Fuel Standard and ethanol production.
Today, another study shows quite a different result, that between 1986 and 2018, over 30 million acres of cropland were abandoned and transitioned into grassland, pasture, forest, shrub land, wetlands, or urban areas.
That encompasses a period of rapid growth in ethanol production.
**The incoming government in Mexico will discard a key goal of the previous administration to reduce yellow corn imports and achieve self-sufficiency in yellow corn production.
Investing Dot Com says the policy of former president Lopez Obrador aimed to dramatically reduce the imports of genetically modified corn, sparking a trade dispute with the U.S.
Incoming ag minister, Julio Berdegue’s objective is not to reduce imports but to produce more.
**Farmer sentiment lowered in June as the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer reading of 105 was three points below May.
The overall drop was due to a five-point drop in the Index of Future Expectations, down to 112, while June’s Current Conditions Index increased to 90, up one from May.
High input costs, the risk of lower prices for their
products, and rising interest rates continue to weigh on farmer sentiment.
