Thursday April 30 Ag News

Tyson Fresh Meats Temporarily Pausing Production at Dakota City, Neb, Beef Plant

Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc., the beef and pork subsidiary of Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN), is currently winding down production and will temporarily pause operations Friday, May 1 through Monday, May 4 at its Dakota City, Neb., beef facility to complete a deep cleaning of the entire plant. The company has been working closely with the local health department and is also in the process of screening plant team members for COVID-19 this week, with assistance from the Nebraska National Guard.

The facility, one of the largest beef processing plant in the country, employs a workforce of 4,300 and normally produces enough beef in one day to feed 18 million people, however with increased absenteeism over the last few weeks the company has scaled back production. While the plant is temporarily idled, and in collaboration with UFCW Local 222, team members will continue to be compensated and asked to continue following CDC guidance such as social distancing, persistent hand washing and wearing of facial coverings to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“Team member safety has and continues to be top priority for us and we’re grateful for our team members and their critical role in helping us fulfill, to the best of our ability, our commitment to helping feed people in our community and across the nation,” said Shane Miller, senior vice president & general manager beef enterprise, Tyson Fresh Meats. “We’ve been focused on COVID-19 since January when we first formed a company coronavirus task force.  Since that time, we’ve implemented numerous measures to protect workers and, at times, have gone beyond CDC guidance.”

Tyson Foods was one of the first food companies to start taking worker temperatures and has installed more than 150 infrared temperature scanners in its facilities. The company started efforts to secure a supply of facial coverings before the CDC recommended them and now requires and provides them for all team members in all facilities.

Last week a team from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, working with local health officials, toured the facility and were able to see preventive measures the company has implemented to enhance the safety of its team members.

“We have a dedicated health and safety team working with local, state and federal health officials and our facility operations team to make timely decisions about operations,” said Miller. “Our decisions on resuming operations during this challenging time will continue to be based on team member safety.”

Tyson Fresh Meats voluntarily idled its pork facilities in Waterloo and Perry, Iowa, and Logansport, Ind. and beef facility in Pasco, Wash. while team members undergo screening and plants complete deep cleaning of the facilities. The company’s other meat and poultry plants currently continue to operate, but some are running at significantly reduced levels of production due to the planned implementation of additional worker safety precautions.



UNMC/Nebraska Medicine experts develop guidelines for meat processing facilities regarding COVID-19

Infectious disease and public health experts at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Global Center for Health Security and College of Public Health have developed a set of guidelines for meat processing facilities that include strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 while the facilities continue to operate.

The guide is intended to provide best practices and recommendations for meat processing facilities to minimize the risk that COVID-19 poses to employees and the community.

Experts at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine developed the recommended measures following an “exhaustive literature search to see what was out there in terms of best practices and industry-specific information” said Jocelyn Herstein, Ph.D., infectious disease expert for the Global Center for Health Security. Dr. Herstein and a team of experts toured 10 meatpacking plants over the past two weeks to provide technical assistance and further develop the guidelines, titled “Meat Processing Facility COVID-19 Playbook.”

“The recommendations are based on the ‘hierarchy of controls,’ a hazard mitigation framework that outlines controls from most to least effective: engineering controls, administrative controls and personal protective equipment (PPE),” said Shelly Schwedhelm, executive director of emergency management and biopreparedness for Nebraska Medicine and executive director of emergency management for the Global Center for Health Security at UNMC.

James Lawler, M.D., executive director of International Programs and Innovation for the Global Center for Health Security at UNMC, said the team worked to adapt infection control measures and practices commonly implemented in a health care and field environments to identify COVID-19 control measures that could be implemented in meatpacking plants.

“For engineering controls, we were looking at strategies such as physical barriers and ventilation systems to protect workers,” Dr. Lawler said. “These are purposeful interventions to limit the spread of the virus.”

Administrative controls might include worker screening strategies, policies, such as a non-punitive, paid sick-leave policies during this pandemic, staggered break schedules, or systematic cleaning and disinfection schedules. PPE strategies include all workers wearing masks before entering the plant and throughout their shift.

“We recommend processes to provide masks, screen workers for COVID-19 symptoms, perform temperature checks, stagger breaks and shift changes, and maximize opportunities for social distancing,” Schwedhelm said.

Experts from the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, based at UNMC, helped develop the playbook and checklist and are working to adapt these resources to guide COVID-19 safety measures for workers in other agricultural sectors.

“It is our top priority to protect the health of workers and their families who are braving the COVID-19 pandemic to put food on everyone’s tables.” said John-Martin Lowe, Ph.D., assistant vice chancellor for Health Security Training and Education at UNMC.

The training reference materials for meat processing facilities can be found here: (https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/education/programs/covid-19-training.html)



OCM Calls for Breakup of Big Four Meatpackers

Today, Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) is calling for the breakup of the “Big Four” meatpacking companies: Cargill, JBS, National Beef, and Tyson.  Together, these four companies control over 85% of the United States beef supply.  Recent packing plant closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused supply-chain disruptions that have had severely harmful consequences for producers, including meatpacking workers, farmers, and ranchers.

“What the COVID-19 pandemic response has shown us is that the biggest links in our food supply chain are the weakest,” said Ben Gotschall, Interim Executive Director of OCM.  “In the interest of our economic, food and national security, the United States needs to remove these weak links by breaking up the Big Four meatpackers and taking steps to ensure that we never again reach today’s harmful level of market concentration.”

According to a recent blog post on the OCM website, breaking up the Big Four meatpackers is one of several actions that could be taken now to strengthen the agriculture and food system.  Those actions include mandatory Country of Origin Labeling, Reform of the commodity checkoff system, and enforcement of the 1921 Packers and Stockyard Act.

OCM’s suggestions come at the same time Senate and House members are calling for antitrust investigations into the meatpacking industry as well as a moratorium on agribusiness mergers.

“The United States needs to move toward a more decentralized food system—a system based on fair, transparent, and competitive markets so that we can have more farmers and ranchers on the land, producing food with more value in more places,” said Gotschall.  “Consumers and producers alike can benefit from a system designed not to extract profits for a few large corporations, but to enrich our rural and urban communities and nourish our nation’s people.”



UFCW Calls on Nebraska Governor Ricketts and All U.S. Governors to Enforce CDC Guidelines to Protect Food Supply and Meatpacking Workers From Coronavirus Outbreak

Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union, which represents more than 250,000 meatpacking and food processing workers across the country, sent a letter to National Governors Association as well as Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts calling to protect meatpacking and poultry workers during the coronavirus outbreak. The letter from UFCW International and UFCW Local 293 in Nebraska was sent as it was reported that President Trump was taking executive action to mandate that meatpacking and poultry plants remain open.

UFCW International President Marc Perrone released the following statement:
“Meatpacking and poultry workers have been working tirelessly through this health crisis so that millions of Americans continue to have access to the food they need. President Trump’s executive order now mandates that they continue to do so, without any language that ensures their safety. Let me be clear, the best way to protect America’s food supply, to keep these plants open, is to protect America’s meatpacking workers.

“Every governor has the ability to take key steps and additional safety actions to protect these workers and it is imperative that they do so immediately. To protect our food supply and workers, strong, enforceable safety standards must be implemented in every meatpacking plant. These safety standards must ensure all workers have access to testing and personal protective equipment, social distancing is enforced, and paid sick leave is provided to all workers so that no one comes to work sick.

“In order to protect our nation’s food supply as President Trump is calling for us to do, we must work together to keep the hard-working men and women in these plants safe. Now, more than ever, this must be a priority for all of our state and national leaders"

Background:
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued guidelines on April 26 for meatpacking and poultry workers and employees. In the new letter to governors, UFCW calls the guidelines a step in the right direction but asks governors to both enforce those guidelines and issue additional protective measures.

The complete letter which can be seen here calls on U.S. governors to enforce CDC guidelines and to issue the following additional measures to protect:

    Enforce Physical Distancing: Plants must reconfigure the workplace to achieve physical distancing of at least 6 feet, between workers, both on the production floor and off.  Barriers, such as plexiglass barriers, should be used only to reinforce the 6 feet distancing, not as a substitute for 6 feet distancing.  CDC/OSHA does not make this statement, but this type of distancing may require the speed of the line to be reduced, in order to achieve a reduction or minimization in the spread of the virus.

    Provide Respirators: All workers on the production floor should be provided with N-95 respirators, which will provide the level of protection needed to protect workers from inhaling virus particles.  Employers must additionally do the following to maintain the integrity of the respirators;
a. Provide a new respirator at the beginning of every shift.
b. Provide fit-testing.  Replace respirators if damaged or contaminated.
c. Follow the current CDC guidelines for disinfecting and storing respirators, if respirators are reused.
d. Provide training on proper donning and doffing procedures, in languages workers understand.
e. Provide additional time for hand hygiene and for proper donning and doffing of respirators.

    Provide Testing: All workers, including management, who are currently working in the plant, should be tested for COVID-19.  Ideally, rapid testing of workers, as they enter the workplace, would ensure that workers carrying the virus are not entering the workplace. 

    Provide Mandatory Paid Quarantine: Should a positive case of COVID-19 be identified in the workplace, those in close contact with the infected individual should be identified as well and paid to stay home for the full two weeks.  This would ensure more workers are not infected, or exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.

    Protect Workers From Retaliation: The UFCW believes that strong, anti-retaliation protections must be in place in order to ensure that workers who feel ill, or who are suffering from COVID-19, can remain at home, in quarantine for the full period of time recommended by the CDC, until it is safe to return to work.  Workers must be encouraged to report any symptoms of illness, or of COVID-19, while at work, as well as any other safety and health hazards, and not suffer any negative consequences for doing so.



Ranch Group Supports Presidential Order to Keep Beef Packers Operating

Responding to Tuesdays executive order by President Donald J. Trump in which he invoked the Defense Production Act to declare meatpacking operations critical infrastructure that must remain open, R-CALF USA said today that Trump's action was necessary to prevent further collapse of the United States' meat supply chain.

In a letter sent yesterday to Trump and congressional leaders, R-CALF USA stated the current meat supply chain lacks resiliency and redundancy and threatens the food security interests of the United States. The letter stated this interest was "arguably the most vital of interests to all of America.

R-CALF USA has urged congressional and regulatory reforms of the nation's beef supply chain for decades, including in a 2013 South Dakota Law Review article in which it stated the industry underwent a period of "merger mania" from 1980 through 2010, resulting in just four major beef packers controlling 85% of all cattle raised specifically for beef production. R-CALF USA argued then that this level of concentration was the highest level of concentration of any industry in the United States.

In yesterday's letter, the group urged a review to consider whether a physical and geographical restructuring of the meatpacking industry is required to disaggregate and decentralize beef processing capacity. It specifically urges the development of a strategic, national food production, processing and distribution policy that can meet America's food security interests.

"Until this current crisis is over, and the President and Congress can conduct such a review and develop such a strategic plan, our nation must administer triage to ensure that our highly centralized and concentrated beef processing system keeps providing our citizens with nutritious food. We simply must keep the current system running through this crisis," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.

"And that is precisely what the President did and we support it," Bullard added.



Peterson Statement on Task Force to Protect Worker Safety and Re-Open Meatpacking Facilities

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson issued a statement supporting efforts to create local task forces to provide a framework to safely and efficiently reopen meatpacking facilities in a way that protects worker health and safety and begins to reduce the backup of hogs for processing in Minnesota and nationwide. Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota is convening such a task force to determine what steps are necessary to keep workers safe and get plants like JBS Worthington back on-line. As part of this effort, the Governor’s office will work with representatives from the JBS facility in Worthington, local leaders from the United Food and Commercial Workers union, the Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

“Workers need to feel confident they can remain healthy and safe at work; farmers need plants like JBS Worthington up and running to keep hogs moving through the supply chain; and consumers need and want meat on the shelves in the grocery store. Those things can’t happen without one another, so the efforts by JBS, by the UFCW, and by the state to come together and talk this through will help us get there.

“First, we’ve got to have testing done broadly enough to know exactly the scale of the infections. Second, workers need masks, faceshields and other PPE, as well as a plan that keeps them a safe distance apart from each other. Our USDA meat inspectors need to be provided with the PPEs necessary to keep them safe and healthy as well. Finally, the plants need to run at a scale and a speed that accounts for the reduced workforce levels we’ll have as we get started. Only after workers are confident those needs are met can plants reopen safely.

“JBS, UFCW and the state are all committed to working through these steps together to get back on-line as soon as possible, which will begin to help clear the backup of hogs and make sure our grocery shelves are stocked. I hope that other plants, unions, and states can use the task force and its plan as a model to keep their employees safe and get their plants back up and running too.”



IDALS Launches Resource Coordination Center to Assist Livestock Producers

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has formed a Resource Coordination Center (RCC) to support Iowa livestock producers affected by the COVID-19 supply chain disruptions. COVID-19 outbreaks in the workforce are causing many meat processing facilities to run below normal operating capacity. That’s creating challenges for producers who are trying to convert livestock to food products.

“COVID-19 has disrupted every aspect of our lives, including our food supply chain,” said Secretary Naig. “This is creating numerous challenges for producers and forcing them to make unimaginable decisions. We want producers to know they’re not alone. We have assembled a team of people who are here to connect producers with information and resources as they work through this difficult time.”

The Department is collaborating with public and private partners to operate the RCC, including the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA), the Iowa Pork Industry Center and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

“We have pulled together some of the best resources in the state to help those Iowa pig farmers working through difficult circumstances. Decisions that will be made in the coming weeks must be the solution that can work best for individual farm situations. We encourage those farmers to call in with questions or go to the website to look at the resources available,” said Mike Paustian, IPPA president and a pig farmer from Walcott.

“The creation of the RCC will allow both public and private organizations to mobilize their resources efficiently and effectively to help pork producers make well-informed decisions during this extremely difficult time,” said Jay Harmon, associate dean for extension and outreach for ISU’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director for agriculture and natural resources extension and outreach at Iowa State.

Through the RCC, livestock industry experts, state agencies and technical specialists will help producers explore every option to harvest livestock and meet the protein needs of Iowans. The RCC will also connect producers with technical resources as they work through difficult and emotional decisions, including animal welfare euthanasia and disposal.

Iowa livestock producers can call the RCC at (515) 725-1005, Monday through Friday between 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., or fill out a help form anytime at iowafarmerhelp.com.

COVID-19 has caused supply chain disruptions that are forcing producers to make emotional and stressful decisions. If producers are feeling overwhelmed, they can call the Iowa Concern Hotline at 1-800-447-1985 to get free, confidential support, 24/7.



Meat Animals Production, Disposition, and Income 2019 Summary

Total 2019 production of cattle and calves and hogs and pigs for the United States totaled 85.3 billion pounds, up 1 percent from 2018. Production decreased 2 percent for cattle and calves but increased 5 percent for hogs and pigs.

Total 2019 cash receipts from marketings of meat animals increased slightly to $88.3 billion. Cattle and calves accounted for 75 percent of this total and hogs and pigs accounted for 25 percent.

The 2019 gross income from cattle and calves and hogs and pigs for the United States totaled $88.7 billion, up slightly from 2018. Gross income decreased 1 percent for cattle and calves but increased 5 percent for hogs and pigs from previous year's gross income.

Cattle and Calves: Cash receipts from marketings of cattle and calves decreased 1 percent from $67.0 billion in 2018 to $66.2 billion in 2019. All cattle and calf marketings totaled 58.4 billion pounds in 2019, down 1 percent from 2018.

Cash Receipts by State, 2019
Nebraska ...:  $10,547,095,000         
Iowa ..........:   $3,931,942,000         

Hogs and Pigs: Cash receipts from hogs and pigs totaled $22.0 billion during 2019, up 5 percent from 2018. Marketings totaled 41.6 billion pounds in 2019, up 5 percent from 2018.

Cash Receipts by State, 2019
Nebraska .....:    $872,183,000             
Iowa ............:    $7,770,797,000        



Milk Production, Disposition, and Income 2019 Summary

Milk production increased 0.4 percent in 2019 to 218 billion pounds. The rate per cow, at 23,391 pounds, was 241 pounds above 2018. The annual average number of milk cows on farms was 9.34 million head, down 62,000 head from 2018.

Cash receipts from marketings of milk during 2019 totaled $40.5 billion, 14.9 percent higher than 2018. Producer returns averaged $18.63 per hundredweight, 14.4 percent above 2018. Marketings totaled 217.4 billion pounds, 0.4 percent above 2018. Marketings include whole milk sold to plants and dealers and milk sold directly to consumers.

Income from Milk Sales, by State, 2019
Nebraska ......:            $232,146,000         
Iowa .............:            $866,745,000         

An estimated 1.02 billion pounds of milk were used on farms where produced, 0.3 percent more than 2018. Calves were fed 91 percent of this milk, with the remainder consumed in producer households.



2019 Nebraksa Poultry Production and Value

The value of egg production in Nebraska during 2019 was $140 million, down $58.4 million from $199 million in 2018, according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Egg production in 2019 was estimated at 2.66 billion eggs, up 269.2 million from the previous year. Average number of layers for 2019 at 8.87 million was up 1.03 million from 2018.

Value of U.S. Poultry Production and Sales Down 13 Percent
The combined value of production from broilers, eggs, turkeys, and the value of sales from chickens in 2019 was $40.4 billion, down 13 percent from $46.2 billion in 2018. Of the combined total, 70 percent was from broilers, 19 percent from eggs, 11 percent from turkeys, and less than 1 percent from chickens.

The value of broilers produced during 2019 was $28.3 billion, down 11 percent from 2018. The total number of broilers produced in 2019 was 9.18 billion, up 2 percent from 2018. The total amount of live weight broilers produced in 2019 was 58.3 billion pounds, up 3 percent from 2018.

The value of turkeys produced during 2019 was $4.30 billion, up 14 percent from the $3.79 billion the previous year. The total number of turkeys raised in 2019 was 229 million, down 4 percent from 2018. Turkey production in 2019 totaled 7.43 billion pounds, up slightly from the 7.42 billion pounds produced in 2018.

The value of sales from chickens (excluding broilers) in 2019 was $37.6 million, down 24 percent from $49.4 million a year ago. The number of chickens sold in 2019 totaled 187 million, down 2 from the total sold during the previous year.

Value of all egg production in 2019 was $7.70 billion, down 28 percent from $10.7 billion in 2018. Egg production totaled 113 billion eggs, up 3 percent from 110 billion eggs produced in 2018.



Retail Fertilizer Prices Mostly Flat

Retail fertilizer prices remain flat compared to last month, with the average price of all eight major fertilizers moving by $3/ton or less, according to prices tracked by DTN for the third week of April, 2020.

Six fertilizers were higher in price compared to last month, but none of them were up a significant amount, which DTN considers 5% or more. DAP has an average price of $410/ton, up $1; urea $385/ton, up $3; 10-34-0 $468/ton, up $2; anhydrous $492/ton, $1; UAN28 $236/ton, up $1; and UAN32 $279/ton, up $1.

The remaining two fertilizers had a slightly lower price with MAP averaging $433/ton, down $1, and potash $370/ton, down fractionally from last month.

On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.42/lb.N, anhydrous $0.30/lb.N, UAN28 $0.42/lb.N and UAN32 $0.44/lb.N.

Retail fertilizers are now all lower in price from a year ago. Both DAP and MAP are 18% lower, anhydrous is 17% less expensive, UAN28 and UAN32 are both 12% lower, urea is 6% less expensive, potash is 5% lower and 10-34-0 is 3% less expensive from last year at this time.



ASA, USB, Soy States Offer #SoyHelp to Overcome Farm Stress

The American Soybean Association (ASA) COVID-19 Task Force conducted a survey in April regarding the effects of COVID-19 on soy growers, their operations, employees, and families. Stress reported by the 86 farmer respondents from across the soy-producing states was high. ASA, state soybean affiliates, and the United Soybean Board (USB) want to help.

This May, during Mental Health Month, ASA is launching a proactive communications campaign to combat #FarmStress and offer #SoyHelp. Help comes in many forms and from many sources, and ASA has researched a range of options that will be shared both nationally and by state soybean affiliates:
-    National mental health resources, including suicide hotlines and crisis centers
-    Agriculture-specific resources for farmers and farm families, both national and state
-    COVID-19-specific resources for stress and other concerns, both national and state

“Stress levels have crept up out there in farm communities for some time now,” said Kevin Scott, soybean farmer from South Dakota and chair of the ASA C-19 Task Force. “As farmers, we are all faced with varying levels of anxiety resulting from a host of concerns - the coronavirus pandemic, weather issues, China trade problems, and other farm stressors. But, knowing there are issues compounding out there and knowing how to talk about them and work to reduce them are two different things. This survey cast a light on ASA’s responsibility to try to help,” Scott explained.

The #SoyHelp campaign will include the following outreach:
-    #SoyHelp social media posts throughout May on ASA Facebook and Twitter
-    A social media toolkit for each soybean state and USB to participate and share resources
-    Related stories in ASA’s weekly eBean email newsletter and content for state newsletters
-    Editorials from soy growers on #FarmStress
-    Expert advice on the subjects of farm stress and seeking emotional support

Wendy Brannen, ASA Sr. Director of Marketing & Communications and C-19 Task Force member said, “Emotional struggles are not one-size-fits-all. Our team has researched resources to accommodate an array of individuals and their needs, and how they or their families can seek qualified help – and we are hopeful this campaign can melt away a bit of the stigma that sometimes still exists in talking openly about the tolls of stress and seeking help.”

Resources and guidance are available to address concerns ranging from temporary stress to ongoing struggles with anxiety and from depression to thoughts of suicide. Options exist for men, women, beginning farmers, veterans and other groups with specific needs or commonalities, including language and disability barriers. Some are specific to disasters, including COVID-19 and how the pandemic has increased instances of or worsened levels of stress. States have local and regional resources available, including information on telehealth options, financial resources, and government offices able to assist with farm operation issues.

“We want these resources to resonate regardless of age, location, gender, or what circumstances have led to needing a hand. It could be a long-time farmer who feels trapped by the current situation, a young person just starting out with concerns about financial hardships, or family members out there trying to navigate how to help in any number of scenarios,” said Brannen.

Included in the resources are links to self-assessments, professional services and local health care facilities; hotlines for urgent needs, warmlines for helpful advice, chat and text lines for instant access; and articles on symptoms, solutions, and opening uncomfortable discussions.

ASA hopes the campaign will get a boost outside the soy family: Toolkits are available for individuals or others interested in sharing directly, or they may repost and share ASA and state association materials.



ADM Reports First Quarter Earnings of $0.69 per Share, $0.64 per Share on an Adjusted Basis
Net earnings of $391 million

ADM (NYSE: ADM) today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

“I’m extremely grateful to our 38,000 global colleagues, whose commitment, ingenuity and agility are powering ADM as we support the global food supply chain and provide nutrition around the world,” said Chairman and CEO Juan Luciano. “Our performance is a testament to the resilience of our people, the strength of our business model, and the breadth and depth of our capabilities to fulfill customer needs, even in a market environment that is changing rapidly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our first priority during this extraordinary time is supporting our colleagues, and we are focused on that every single day. We’ve put into place detailed guidelines and protocols to help protect our teams and support continuity of operations, and I’m proud that we are operating around the globe with very minimal disruptions. We’ve also taken steps to bolster our already strong balance sheet and liquidity position to further enhance our ability to run our business.

“Even amid the challenge of COVID-19, the team is doing a great job advancing our important work to make ADM a better company. From improving underperforming businesses, to driving Readiness, to harvesting our investments — particularly in Nutrition — we remain committed to delivering our strategy and focusing on the business drivers under our control. There are many unknowns, and ADM isn’t immune from some of the negative effects of this pandemic, but we are confident in the ability of our great team to shift to whatever our customers need, and continue to deliver nutrition around the globe.”

First Quarter 2020 Highlights
Ag Services & Oilseeds delivered strong results that were in line with the year-ago period.
    Ag Services results more than doubled versus the first quarter of 2019, which was negatively impacted by high water conditions in North America. Global trade performance was driven by strong results in destination marketing and structured trade finance. Robust farmer selling in Brazil drove higher year-over-year origination volumes and margins, which were partially offset by weaker results in North America.
    Crushing results were lower than the prior-year-period. Volumes were strong, and execution margins were solid, though below the high realized margins in the first quarter of 2019, which benefited from the short crop in Argentina. The prior-year quarter also benefited from about $75 million of positive timing impacts.
    Refined Products and Other results were higher than the first quarter of 2019. Higher margins in both biodiesel and refined oils in North America were offset by lower biodiesel margins in EMEAI. Peanut shelling results were significantly improved versus the prior-year period.
    Wilmar results were significantly higher year over year.

Carbohydrate Solutions results were lower than the first quarter of 2019.
    The Starches and Sweeteners subsegment, including wet mill ethanol results, was down year over year, largely due to about $50 million in negative mark to market impacts on forward sales of corn oil, much of which could reverse over the balance of the year. Absent those impacts, results were higher due to better operating performance at the Decatur complex, strong results in wheat milling, and improved conditions in EMEAI.
    Vantage Corn Processors results were slightly higher than the prior year. Effective risk management, combined with the lack of the severe weather impacts seen in the first quarter of 2019, helped offset weak industry ethanol margins caused by significantly decreased demand.

Nutrition results were once again substantially higher year over year.
    Human Nutrition businesses, including flavors, specialty ingredients and health & wellness, delivered strong performance and growth across the broad portfolio. Increased sales revenue in North America and EMEAI flavors, continued sales growth in alternative proteins, and additional bioactives income helped drive improved results.
    Animal Nutrition continued its growth trajectory. Improved year-over-year results were driven by a strong performance from Neovia, good volumes and margins in feed additives, and solid sales in pet care. Amino acids were negatively impacted by a year-over-year decline in the global pricing environment.