November 2, 2017 Bulletin - Update on Small Hive Beetle

Nov 06, 2017

The OBA’s Small Hive Beetle (SHB) Working Group has been meeting over the summer and fall and issues this update to keep Ontario beekeepers informed. Keep in mind that the situation is evolving as we locate new finds of small hive beetle. We will update you as appropriate, including at the upcoming OBA Conference.

This year, inspectors reported 20 new finds in Ontario mostly, but not all, in the Niagara region. There were 11 new finds in New Brunswick. Small hive beetle has also been found in Alberta and BC.

Ontario beekeepers have almost seven years of experience with small hive beetle since the first finds were discovered in Windsor-Essex. Given Ontario’s northern climate, small hive beetle likely has just one reproductive cycle per season, making this pest much more manageable than in warm, moist climates, like Florida, where it thrives. While no beekeeper needs or wants another pest, Ontario beekeepers’ experience shows that the impact of small hive beetle on a beekeeping operation can be managed and in most cases small hive beetle causes far less damage than wax moth.

Source: OBA

Video: Is China Buying US Soybeans + USDA Nov 14th Crop Report could be “Game Changing”

After a week of a U.S./China trade truce, markets/trade is skeptical that we have not seen a signed agreement nor heard much from China or seen any details. There are rumors that China is buying soybean futures & not the physical. Trust in Trump?
12 MMT of U.S. soybean purchases by China by year-end is better than 0 but we all need to give it more time and give it a chance to unfold. China did lower the tariffs on Ag and is buying U.S. wheat and sorghum.
U.S. supreme court could rule against Trumps tariffs, but the Trump administration does have a plan B.
U.S. government shutdown is now the longest in history at 38 days.
But despite a U.S. government shutdown we will be getting a USDA November crop report next Friday and it could be “game changing.” If the USDA provides a bullish surprise with lower U.S. corn and soybean yields and ending stocks that are lower than expected both corn and soybean futures will break out above their ceilings at $4.35/bu and $11.35/bu respectively.
The funds continued their selling in live and feeder cattle futures on continued fears that the Trump administration want to lower U.S. beef prices. The fundamentals have not changed, only market psychology has.
Stocks markets continue to worry about a weak U.S. job market, but you can blame ChatGPT for that. In the future, we will have a more efficient, productive and growing economy with a higher unemployment rate until we have more skilled AI workers.
After 34 new record highs in the S & P 500 and 124 new records in the NASDAQ in 2025 we are back to a correction and investor profit taking as AI valuations may have gotten too stretched near-term ahead of NVDA’s 3rd quarter earnings announcement on Nov. 19th. But this is not an AI bubble.
75% of Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk!
It has rained in South America in the last 7 days, but both the American and European models agree that Central Brazil remains dry in the next 14-days!

Days of the ‘dustbowl:’ Land will take time to recover

Illinois growers help farmer in need after son diagnosed with cancer