Headline Stack
📋 House takes H.R. 7567 farm bill to the floor this week
🌍 Hormuz traffic still 88% below normal as urea hits $858/ton
📊 Corn export inspections reach 53.4 MMT, soybeans trail last year by 24%
🏭 MFA acquires four ADM grain elevators in Missouri, adds 6M bu storage
🌽 Ohio reaches 20% corn, 19% soybeans planted ahead of Crop Progress
Top Story
📋 The House takes H.R. 7567 to the floor this week. — LINK
The House is scheduled to vote this week on H.R. 7567, the most consequential row crop legislation in years, with floor action covering commodity title reference prices, crop insurance structure, conservation spending, and contested glyphosate liability provisions. The full chamber will work through a managed amendment process before final passage, after which the bill heads to the Senate. The outcome will reset baseline support programs that govern how producers price, insure, and finance the 2026 and 2027 crops. House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-Pa.) and ranking Democrats have spent recent weeks negotiating around the bill's pesticide preemption language and SNAP funding offsets, with a faction of MAHA-aligned Republicans publicly opposing the glyphosate liability shield. POLITICO reports the Rules Committee cleared the package over the weekend with a structured rule limiting amendments to those filed by the Friday deadline. Floor debate is expected midweek, with final passage targeted before the chamber breaks. The 2018 farm bill has been operating on extension authority since September 2023.
More This Week
🌍 Ceasefire fails to ease U.S. fertilizer prices. — LINK
Strait of Hormuz vessel traffic remains 88.0% below pre-conflict averages and trade volume 92.4% below even after the April 8 ceasefire, with retail anhydrous ammonia at $1,114/ton (+29.2% since mid-February) and urea at $858/ton (+41.1%) — adding $30 to $55 per acre to corn nitrogen costs.
"Shipowners may take the view that the ceasefire needs to be extended beyond the initial two weeks. They don't want to take the risk of sailing in, only to get stuck if the situation deteriorates," an ammonia shipbroker told S&P Global.
The U.S. sources 17% of its urea consumption and 20% of DAP/MAP consumption from the Persian Gulf; in the first full week after the ceasefire, UAN28 rose 1.4%, UAN32 rose 1.2%, and anhydrous ammonia rose 2.4%.
📊 Export inspections mixed, corn pace ahead of record projection. — LINK
USDA inspections for the week ending April 23 put corn at 1,644,191 tons and soybeans at 628,826 tons; year-to-date corn inspections total 53,441,646 tons versus 40,907,267 a year ago, while soybeans trail at 32,809,965 tons compared to 43,165,781 last year.
"Corn fell below a year ago but remains ahead of the pace needed to meet the record export projection for the current marketing year," USDA reported in the weekly release.
Sorghum inspections reached 180,550 tons for the week with China the dominant destination, bringing 2025/26 sorghum inspections to 3,509,386 tons compared to 1,661,960 in 2024/25; the next WASDE is May 10.
🏭 MFA acquires four ADM elevators in Missouri. — LINK
Farmer-owned MFA Incorporated is acquiring four ADM grain elevators in Montgomery City, Center, Novelty, and Shelbina, Missouri, adding roughly 6 million bushels of licensed storage capacity to the cooperative's footprint.
The deal expands delivery points for MFA member producers across northeast and central Missouri, with the four locations transitioning from ADM ownership to cooperative operation.
MFA Incorporated, headquartered in Columbia, Missouri, serves more than 45,000 farmer-owners across Missouri and adjacent states.
🌽 Ohio reaches 20% corn, 19% soybeans planted. — LINK
Ohio has reached 20% corn planted and 19% soybeans planted, outpacing several Corn Belt neighbors heading into USDA's weekly Crop Progress report released today.
The state's pace puts it ahead of its own five-year average for late April, with dry weather and warm soils through the third week of April allowing widespread field activity.
Ohio typically plants roughly 3.5 million acres of corn and 5 million acres of soybeans each year, making the state's early progress a meaningful tell for eastern Corn Belt momentum.
Basis Watch
Old-crop corn basis strengthened across Iowa's western and southwestern regions, with Southwest Iowa posting the largest gains at +6 to +8 cents. South Central Iowa also saw +6 cents of strength on the bid side, while North Central Illinois gained 5 cents. Most other interior Corn Belt locations moved 1 cent or less. Indiana East held a positive cash basis at +16 cents on the upper end, a sharp contrast to the typical negative readings elsewhere.
Old-crop soybean basis moved more decisively, led by Northeast Iowa's 12-cent gain to a minimum of –80 cents. Indiana North strengthened 8 cents and now shows a positive basis of +5 cents on the upper bid. Missouri Northeast and Iowa North Central each gained 6–7 cents, though both remain substantially negative. The rest of Iowa's soybean locations showed minimal movement, with changes of 2–4 cents or flat readings dominating the lower end of the range.
Source: USDA AMS Reports
Strait of Hormuz shipping traffic remains roughly 88% below pre-conflict normal even after the April 8 ceasefire, keeping U.S. corn nitrogen costs $30 to $55 per acre above year-ago levels.
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