File photo of a combine at work during a harvest in Germany. (Abadonian/iStock/Getty Images)

Germany considering withdrawal from crop-based biofuels by 2030

Lawmakers seek to boost biofuel made from wastes

Hamburg | Reuters — Germany’s government is considering proposals to phase out the use of biofuels produced from food or animal feed crops by 2030, the German biofuels industry association (VDB) said on Tuesday, adding the measure could increase carbon emissions. German environment minister Steffi Lemke said Jan. 17 she will soon send proposals to […] Read more



CBOT March 2023 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soybeans fall as rain expected to aid Argentine crop

Snow in U.S. Plains pressures wheat

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures dropped on Monday for a fourth consecutive session as rainfall in Argentina’s parched growing areas diminished concerns over crop damage. Wheat fell to nearly 16-month lows as snow and rain across parts of the U.S. Great Plains brought needed moisture to winter wheat crops, while corn followed wheat […] Read more

CBOT March 2023 soybeans with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soy, corn slide on forecasts for much-needed Argentine rains

New survey calls for expanded U.S. wheat acres

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures fell on Thursday, retreating from seven-month highs set a day earlier as forecasts for beneficial rains in drought-hit Argentina sparked a round of selling, analysts said. Corn futures also declined on the outlook for Argentine weather along with wheat futures. Chicago Board of Trade March soybeans settled down […] Read more


The skeleton of a fish is seen in the Navarro lagoon, which dried up due to the climate phenomenon La Nina, in Navarro in Argentina’s Buenos Aires province on Dec. 5, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Agustin Marcarian)

Storms to bring rain to parched Argentine fields next week, grains exchange says

Drought has limited soy, corn planting

Reuters — A storm front should bring moderate to abundant rainfall across most of Argentina’s key agricultural area over the next week, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said on Thursday, which could help farmers plant their fields after a historic drought. Lack of rainfall in Argentina, the world’s largest exporter of soybean oil and meal […] Read more

A submerged and abandoned car is seen in floodwaters near a vineyard after winter storms at Forestville, California on Jan. 13, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Fred Greaves)

California rainstorms fade as death toll reaches 20

Drought to remain an issue for much of state

Reuters — The parade of atmospheric rivers that pounded California for three weeks finally faded on Monday, enabling the state to begin lengthy repairs to roads and levees as the White House announced U.S. President Joe Biden planned to survey the damage. The nine consecutive rainstorms that inundated California in succession since Dec. 26 killed […] Read more


CBOT March 2023 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soy, corn rise on smaller U.S. harvest, Argentina drought worries

U.S. markets closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures climbed for a third straight day on Friday and corn scaled to a 1-1/2 week top on follow-through buying after bullish U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop data the prior day and concerns about poor South American weather. Both markets gained more than two per cent since USDA […] Read more

Flooding from the Salinas River forces the closure of a road at Salinas, California on Jan. 12, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Nathan Frandino)

California picks up debris from latest storm, braces for next

Also: Why all this rain won't end California's drought

Sacramento | Reuters — Rain-soaked Californians took advantage of a break in a weeks-long deluge to haul away dead trees, restore downed power lines and prepare new stacks of sandbags before another series of storms hits the state beginning Friday. In Monterey County along the state’s central coast, communities near the still-rising Salinas River were […] Read more


A drone photo from the Sampona commune of Madagascar on Feb. 11, 2022, shows Zebu cattle drinking water from a large puddle created from Cyclone Batsirai. The island nation’s south has been experiencing severe drought for the past four years, putting it in danger of what the World Food Programme calls “the world’s first climate change famine.” (Photo: Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis)

Last year tied as world’s fifth-warmest on record, U.S. scientists say

Global CO2 emissions continue to rise

Brussels | Reuters — Last year was the world’s joint fifth-warmest on record and the last nine years were the nine warmest since pre-industrial times, putting the 2015 Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to 1.5 C in serious jeopardy, U.S. scientists said on Thursday. Last year tied with 2015 as the fifth-warmest year […] Read more

The skeleton of a fish is seen in the Navarro lagoon, which dried up due to the climate phenomenon La Nina, in Navarro in Argentina’s Buenos Aires province on Dec. 5, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Agustin Marcarian)

Worst drought in decades sees Argentina exchange slash soy, corn forecasts

Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentina’s Rosario Grains exchange sharply cut its forecast for the 2022-23 soybean harvest to 37 million tonnes from a previous forecast of 49 million, it said on Wednesday, as the country faces its worst drought in 60 years. The exchange also slashed its 2022-23 corn harvest estimate to around 45 […] Read more


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