b'Dan Basse delivers his 2023 global agricultural market recap and 2024 predictions. Speaking about the importance of Brazil in global agricul- ful harvest, he said. I think yields were better than what they ture, Basse said that the growing seasons in the South Americanexpected. Everyone always wants higher yields. Everyone always country are becoming more important to North American agri- wants higher prices and lower costs. culture.Rana added, if youre not optimistic, you cannot be a farmer.The Brazilian futures market now leads the U.S., he said.Schuler said farmers are still buying high-quality seeds. He U.S. farmland prices keep rising and there is still a strongexplained that its still a positive price environment where farm-appetite for U.S. farm real estate, despite an increased cost ofers want to have the best. financing and sagging margins. Basse said buyers still see crop- Things rarely go bad enough that a farmer will not plant an land as a more profitable investment than the S&P 500.acre, Schuler said.The Majors Panel brought together senior leaders fromThe panel discussed recent challenges revealing the seed the seed industries four largest companies to discuss Bassesindustrys strength and endurance.economic forecast. Panelists included Tom Schuler, BASF viceWeve had trade wars, African Swine Flu, now two active president of Global Strategic Marketing, Seeds and Traits; Timwarsone of them between two of the major grain-producing Glenn, Corteva Agriscience vice president, Seed Business Unit;countries in Europe, Glenn said. And the pandemic on top of Eric Boeck, Syngenta Seeds North America regional director andit. It highlights the resilience of our industry and the fact that Jagresh Rana, head of North America Product Development forthrough all the challenges, farmers did what they do. They go Bayer. out there day after day and perform extraordinarily well and that They said each company must have a local mindset. Bassegives me a lot of confidence.asked panelists what they are seeing from the farmers and ifConcerning the U.S. Farm Bill extension, Basse asked what seed sales are still hanging in there.means for the seed industry. Rana said he doesnt believe the When you think about farm income being down, its still atlegislation changes the priorities of the seed industry, but the bill a record high, Boeck said. Overall I think we can be optimisticitself is challenging for agriculture as a whole. about whats happening in the industry. In the past, the Farm Bill was always passed in Congress with Glenn agreed and shared in Boecks optimism.bipartisan support, he said. That component seems to be miss-U.S. farmers didnt have above-trend yields, but if you thinking in Washington now. Agriculture in the United States is not about where we were and the season we had, I think farmerssimply a commerce issue; its a national security issue. If we dont came out of this past season quite positive and had a success- manage this well, it could be a very challenging situation.SWJANUARY 2024SEEDWORLD.COM /27'