Trade Keeps Close Eye On South America Drought

Feb 11, 2022

With the release of the USDA WASDE report this week, there was plenty of talk surrounding the weather in South America.

Dan Basse is President of AgResource Company in Chicago.

"It's one of the worst droughts we can find looking backwards in four decades. Southern Brazil, Argentina have been enduring drought going all the way back now to the middle of November. That drought looks to persist. The forecasts are dry for at least another couple of weeks," he said. "Crop numbers are declining and we would expect USDA and future reports to make those adjustments also. Ultimately, we think there may be another nine million metric tons fall in the Brazilian crop, maybe another three or four in Argentina and two in Paraguay."

Basse says that will add up to about another fourteen million metric tons and that will probably get us close to where we need to be with soybeans trading just below $16 a bushel in Chicago.

Click here to see more...

Video: Porcine Gut Models in Nutrition Research - Dr. Li-Hsuan Chen

In this episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Dr. Li-Hsuan Chen, postdoc researcher at Aarhus University, discusses how porcine intestinal cell lines and organoids can help study the impact of nutrition on gut health. He explains how in vivo piglet trials identify diet-driven shifts in microbiota and metabolites, while in vitro models allow researchers to test specific metabolites, barrier function, immune markers, and future organ-on-chip systems before moving back to animal studies. Listen now on all major platforms!

"In vitro models can reduce early animal use by helping researchers screen nutritional candidates before moving back to in vivo trials."

Meet the guest: Dr. Li-Hsuan Chen / li-hsuan-chen-9a95a7279 is a postdoc researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark. Research focuses on porcine gut health, host-microbe interactions, cell lines, and organoids, with PhD work at Aarhus University studying how dietary protein and amino acid levels shape gut microbiota, microbial metabolites, and intestinal epithelial responses. Learn more from Dr. Li-Hsuan Chen on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.