Smithfield’s plant in Monmouth, Illinois, is closed for an undetermined amount of time after a massive fire on Monday night.  The fire hit the rendering area of the plant but no one was injured.  Most of the workers were off for the Labor Day holiday and a cleaning crew inside the building was safely evacuated.  A Smithfield spokesperson said further assessments will be made this week and they’ll get the plant back up and running as soon as possible.  Firefighters from up to a dozen departments in the area responded to the blaze.  The plant employs up to 1,500 workers that produce fresh pork products and ready to cook bacon.

News stories that Bayer has increased its bid for Monsanto and that the two companies are continuing to negotiate prompted National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson to take action. He’s calling on the US Justice Department to act on the deal, saying a merger between the two companies would not be good for farmers. Johnson said, “A Bayer/Monsanto merger would be a continuation of a wave of mergers in the agricultural input sector. That wave includes the recently approved ChemChina deal to acquire Syngenta, as well as the proposed mergers between Dow and DuPont and Potash Corporation and Agrium.” He said NFU will continue to express concerns that mega deals like these are made to benefit those in the boardroom and not family farmers. Along those same lines, Johnson said, “We are pleased to see that the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit to prevent a proposed merger between John Deere and Precision Planting. We urge them to continue to reject any deals, both now and in the future, that hurt marketplace competition.

Bloomberg reports that the China National Chemical Corporation has commitments from lenders on a $12.7 billion loan package to help secure its purchase of Syngenta. ChemChina acquired the financing from 17 different banks all together. The agreement to buy Syngenta for $43 billion came earlier this year in a deal that would make it the largest supplier of pesticides and ag chemicals in the world. The funds coming together now puts the state-owned corporation one step closer to finishing up the country’s biggest acquisition ever outside of its borders. US national security officials approved the takeover deal last month but it’s still subject to an anti-trust review by regulators worldwide. ChemChina is planning to sell $10 billion in preferred shares to help fund the acquisition. They also intend to raise another $15 billion in cash, bringing the total equity contribution to $25 billion. ChemChina will borrow the rest of the financing it needs via a loan package.

The 2015-2016 marketing year for corn and soybeans ended on August 31. The question is how much of each commodity was used during the marketing year? The USDA Quarterly Grain Stocks report on September 30 will reveal the total consumption of the two commodities and the amount of grain stocks available for use in the 2016-2017 marketing year. University of Illinois Ag Economist Darrell Good said available data is showing soybean consumption exceeding the 3.889 billion bushel forecast in the August World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report. Good reports that soybean consumption has exceeded the USDA’s August projection due to a strong pace of overseas exports. USDA predicted marketing year exports at 1.88 billion bushels. Good says based on current data, he’s predicting export use at 1.939 billion bushels, which is 59 million bushels more than what was projected and 97 million bushels more than the record-setting exports of the previous year.

The Farm Service Agency has reprogrammed $185 million dollars to help address a backlog of direct and guaranteed farm operating loan applications. The Hagstrom Report says that’s enough to service approximately 1,900 applications, but many farm groups say more money is needed. The funds were approved by Congress and will allow the agency to cover up to 30 percent of its expected shortfall before the new fiscal year begins on October 1. The FSA said some of its customers are experiencing challenges due to the current economic climate and have been waiting 60 days for approval. This funding is expected to help those applicants who have been waiting the longest to obtain credit or restructure loans. National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson said, “The reprogramming is greatly appreciated, but this will only alleviate approximately 30 percent of FSA’s budget shortfall. NFU has been in constant contact with members of Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding the need for additional credit.” Johnson said additional steps will be needed to address the backlog of applicants for FSA loans.

Both Bayer and Monsanto have confirmed that negotiations for the sale of Monsanto are continuing and a new offer has been made. Bayer has updated its proposal to a non-binding $127.50 per share in cash. Monsanto says it will continue its conversations with Bayer as it evaluates the offer, but it’s also considering other offers from other companies as well. A Dow Jones report said Monsanto did acknowledge the new offer and called current negotiations “constructive.” Bayer executives said the pharmaceutical giant’s potential acquisition of Monsanto would create a global firm with a deep selection of pesticides and help farmers be better positioned to grow food for an increasing worldwide population. Bayer has faced some concern from some shareholders who are worried that the potential Monsanto acquisition would take its focus away from its pharmacology work. Monsanto’s board unanimously rejected Bayer’s previous offer of $125 dollars share back in July as too low. While the current offer is $127.50 per share, analysts have said $135 to $140 dollars a share might be more realistic.

After months of improved farmer sentiment toward the Ag economy, things took a different turn in the August Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. Declining commodity prices weighed heaviest on farmer outlooks in August. The barometer index fell to 95 in the month of August, down from 112 in July. That represents the largest one month decline since November 2015. Farmer sentiment about the current economic climate and their future expectations both fell in August, which was a sharp contrast from July, when farmers were positive about their long-term prospects despite current economic concerns. Farmer outlooks were more positive after a spring rally in commodity prices, but near ideal growing conditions in most corn and soybean areas pushed prices sharply lower. The USDA forecast of another record harvest led to worries of increasing carryover stocks in both crops and the lowest corn prices in a decade. Tighter cash flow margins are causing farmers to lower their anticipated production costs. The survey also asked producers about anticipated 2017 input costs, and despite the low commodity prices, most producers actually anticipate their input costs increasing in 2017.

Wheat traders and the industry remain hopeful tight supplies of the commodity in India could provide a small boost to global prices, and a potential rebound from 10-years lows. Commodity traders expect India to increase international purchases significantly over the coming months as the nation’s wheat stocks are at decade lows, thanks to lower domestic production. India’s domestic prices for wheat are at record-high levels and could climb further this year. A wheat industry expert from India tells Reuters “the supply situation is getting very serious,” and that reviewing import policies may “be a viable and rational option to bridge the gap between demand and supply.” India has already bought near 600,000 metric tons of wheat this year, the most in nine years. But trade experts expect India to reduce or even abolish the 25 percent import tariff to make imports cheaper and ease a domestic supply squeeze.