AgResource Company president Dan Basse was back in person with his annual update on the global agricultural market at the 2021 ASTA CSS & Seed Expo on Tuesday.
This is the ninth year Basse has presented at the event and, as always, he packed a lot of information into an hour. Among the trends he noted for the coming year – a commodity “super cycle” and peak farmland; the role of farming and biofuels in carbon reduction; hog hotels in China and renewable diesel driving demand for corn and soy; and skyrocketing food prices.
Basse sees rising demand for renewable diesel as especially disruptive for the agriculture industry. “The problem we have in every bushel of soybeans as you put it through processor you get 47 and a half pounds of soybean meal and 11.6 pounds of bean oil,” said Basse. “I need more bean oil. If U.S. seed breeders could give me more bean oil, you’re going to have a very glorified future.”
Listen to an interview with Basse, as well as some of his insights from the presentation:
ASTACSS - Interview with Dan Basse, AgResource (6:44)