Commodity Conversations

The profitability playoffs: 2020/21 benchmarking review – 11th February, 2022

There were many price records broken last year and plenty of profits made in the process for some (despite the increasing cost of production and inputs). And although it’s easy to get distracted by the ‘hype’ around livestock markets, we’re lucky to have Sandy McEachern, Director of Aggregate Consulting, explain just which enterprises were the most successful, or profitable, in 2020/21, according to his latest benchmarking review.

Herd rebuild in the hands of the north, MLA cattle projections update - 4th February 2022

This week Rob & Olivia from Mecardo help tell the story behind some of the key figures in Meat & Livestock Australia’s latest cattle projections update along with the usual market overviews for grain, sheep & wool.

Global grains & oilseeds outlook – 28th January 2022

Mark Tully, senior grains analyst for Nutrien Canada, shares his perspective of how the Canadian grain & oilseed growers are going coming off the back of some of the worst droughts in Canadian history. We also dive into the geopolitical tensions in western Europe & discuss what impact escalation of conflict there could mean for grain & oilseed markets internationally. Finally, Mark gives us his outlook on the global supply & demand equation and key market drivers to watch out for in 2022. 

Shear gas: beer, shearer wages & GHG emission - 21st January 2022

What’s beer and gas got to do with livestock and wool? This week we go left of field with our resident wool guru Andrew Woods from ICS commodity services to take a broad look at greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture and revisit whether the beer purchasing power of shearers has improved in the last few years, some good conversations starters for your local pub. 

Weaners all round – Summer cattle update 14th January 2022

Red hot weaner cattle sales are the talk of the market, so this week we chat with Andrew Hosken from Hosken stock and land about who's buying the cattle and which markets they are destined for. As always, Andrew has his finger on the pulse when it comes to the cattle markets in Australia, tune in to hear the conversation.

What does 2022 have in store for us? - 7th January 2022

Join us as David Cornish and Robert Herrmann recap 2021 and look at what 2022 may have in store. This episode was originally recorded on the Marcus Oldham AgTalk podcast on the 20th of December 2021. 

David is the Director of the Centre for the Study of Agribusiness at Marcus Oldham Agricultural College with over 30 years experience in Agricultural finance. In his spare time, he is involved in a family farming operation based at Casterton in Western Victoria. 

Take a look at the full list of episodes on AgTalk - link here

Good signs for agriculture in 2022 - 22nd December 2021

For our final podcast of 2021 we have Michael Whitehead, head of agribusiness insights ANZ, on to discuss ANZ’s December Commodity Insights report. 

We hope you enjoy the episode and from the team at Mecardo we wish you have a safe and happy holidays and we’ll see you in 2022 for more episodes of Commodity Conversations.

Merino wool, a global perspective - 20th December 2021

For the 2nd last podcast of 2021 we have Roberto Cardellino, director of DELTA consulting Uruguay on to discuss his latest report titled, 'The volume and diameter of merino wool in the main producing countries of the world'.  Roberto shares his key findings from the report and also his outlook for merino wool production going forward. 

 

Changing dynamics, the processors point of view – 10th December 2021

Last time we caught up with Will Barton, Chief Executive Officer at Gundagai Meat Processors, he spoke about his concerns around labour shortages, particularly heading into the ‘normal’ spring flush of lambs. This week we find out how the spring supply has eventuated and also how demand is looking from the consumer side.

Mutton to worry about - lamb and sheep market update with Ron Rutledge - 3rd December 2021

This week Nutrien Ag Solutions Livestock Manager, Ron Rutledge, joins us to give  the low down on which yards are starting to get hit with lambs in the south and how producers and processors coping with the late 'spring flush'. Ron also gives us an insight into the first big weaner sale of the summer 21/22 season and a taste of what's to come in this space.