GLG News by Council Members Knowledgeable on Agricultural Land Developments

The secondary effects of the world-wide ethanol boom are starting to show up in increases in prices, and in earnings, of which Deere is an excellent example.  Expansion of sugarcane in Brazil is driving sales of Deere machines there, but the effects of the big US corn crop and record high commodity...

The biofuels sector continues to be the focus of negative stories in the US and Global press, highlighting many of the downsides of the push towards ethanol and biodiesel.  These stories, by themselves, might not create significant problems for the industry, but in combination with the twin economic...

Ethanol and corn has been booming not because the US government called for it, but rather because there were opportunities for profits, largely due to oil prices. Subsidies for biofuels in the US should have a hard end-date. Dollars spent on food aid should increase, rather than expecting world commodity...

GMO products will likely ride the biofuel train into other formerly closed markets, as global supplies of corn and beans shrink due to biofuel consumption, and non-GMO alternatives disappear.

Ethanol is headed for a slowdown and consolidations, but will emerge stronger and more efficient. Cash corn near $3.05 and ethanol near $1.58 per gallon leaves a profit margin of only a few cents per bushel. Corn prices will fall as ethanol plants slow consumption, but weather...

With current prices for soybeans, biodiesel's primary feedstock, its economic viability is questionable. With soybean oil selling for near $0.40 per pound, costs to produce soy-based biodiesel are running $3.20-$3.30 per gallon, at or slightly above current prices for diesel of $3.00-$3.10. The Federal...

Brazil’s complaint, originally filed in July, now includes a challenge on the payments for “energy subsidies”—ie: ethanol’s $0.51 per gallon subsidy, and the biodiesel blending credit. The US says it considers those “industrial” subsidies, and not a part of this WTO discussion Brazil has already won...

Multinationals like ADM will enter the Brazilian sector, but should they do it now? Overoptimism in Brazil's sugar sector will lead to overpricing of assets The Brazilian sugar sector may be headed for a correction.

It appears that Congress may, yet again, renew many of the provisions in the 2002 program…pushing the issue of true reforms to be  played out in the courts of the WTO.  The US will eventually be forced to "level the playing field" on these issues, and it may be forced on the farm sector at...

Brazil's landless social action movement remains a risk for both domestic and international agricultural businesses in Brazil.   The MST's unhappiness with their efforts, to date, to work politically through the Lula administration, creates the risk of additional social actions by the organization....