Syngenta Buyout

Syngenta Buyout

Farm Business

News of the Syngenta buyout is drawing lots of headlines today.  ChemChina had made a previous offer that was rejected.  The Swiss company has also rejected offers from Monsanto.  It looks like the current ChemChina deal is likely to be completed.  Rueters has a long article on the subject.  They offer plenty of reasons why ChemChina would want the company.  I don't see much about the implications for American agriculture.  

Rental Walkouts

Rental Walkouts

Farm Business Farm Management

I read an article about rental walkouts.  We have had rumors of a few farmers walking out on high rent leases.    What do you do when your rental rate is going to keep you from making a profit?  I can see reasons for wanting to revise a lease in our current price climate.  What do you do as the landlord?

Agricultural Productivity

Agricultural Productivity

Farm Business

You may have gathered that I was attending the Farm Futures Business Summit in St. Louis the past few days.  The Farm Futures people always put on an excellent program. I have a bit of material for additional blogs, but the chart below represents the most interesting bit of information presented.  David Oppendahl of the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago presented it during his talk on "Ag's future from the Fed point of view."
The information below shows that agricultural outputs have grown 2.5 times since 1948, while inputs have stayed almost the same the whole time.  Figures are adjusted for inflation in terms of 1948 values.