On this episode of the Real Science Exchange we are looking into 2022 and what is shaping up for agriculture around the globe. 

Brett Stewart thinks that with the expansion of the world-wide money supply, current prices won’t break lower, and especially not in commodity markets. (6:26)

John Bedell spoke about the five headwinds, which are: increased demand, constrained supply, commodity price pressure, domestic logistics and international logistics. Of these, the only one that John expects to change is demand. (13:18)

Richard Fritz spoke on the China trade agreement and he believes the most important aspect of the agreement is setting standards for animal health. However, it is an agreement made on price, not volume so it is a very unique agreement. (31:11)

Brett Stewart addressed the labor shortage and said that as wages increase to keep up with inflation, inflation will continue to increase as well. The labor shortage is not unique to the United States, some beef processors in South America are 30% below average slaughter rates because of lack of workers. (42:47) 

Richard Fritz mentioned the Russia/Ukraine situation and the impact on agriculture, mostly in grain export out of the Black Sea which could become a problem. (55:01) 

John Bedell added that Russia supplies natural gas to Europe and that can have a lot of trickle down effects as well. (56:04)

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This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.