Alan Barrett is the Director of Research and Consulting for HIgby Barrett LLC. He is an accomplished commodity economist with more than 25 years of experience in futures and cash markets with a focus on cotton, commodity projects, non-traditional agricultural products, transportation and supply chain studies. Alan spent six years as a commodity futures broker. His expertise encompasses feasibility studies of oilseed crushing plants (soybean canola, and cottonseed), grain elevators, export elevators, shuttle elevators, grain container operations, flourmills and other processing facilities. Alan also has conducted transportation supply chain studies for grains, oilseeds, fertilizer, coal, natural gas, crude oil, and petroleum products. Alan has considerable experience in non-traditional agricultural products such as coal, coke, natural gas, chemicals, hydraulic fracturing fluid, hydraulic fracturing proppants, glycerin, fertilizer, micronutrients, salt, limestone, cement, iron ore, pig iron, and steel, especially feed ingredients. Mr. Barrett has a BS and MS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Tennessee.
U.S. Soybean Container Exports Increasing
A major focus of U.S. ports is to increase the depth of the waterways to increase the size of container vessels that can call on…
Soybean Stocks at Record Levels
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated June 1 soybean stocks at 1.8 billion bushels, which is up 571 million bushels from a year ago.…
Crop Barge Movements Still Below Normal
After being closed from March 16 through June 20 due to flooding, Lock and Dam 15 at the Quad Cities on the upper Mississippi River…
Despite River Constraints, Barge Rates Normal
Crop barge capacity is the number of covered barges in the fleet multiplied by the number of times the barge can be loaded minus other…
Expanding U.S. Soybean Crushing Footprint Changing Trade Flows
Four large new soybean crushing plants and one small plant are scheduled to be built in increasingly large soybean surplus areas. Plants are planned for…
U.S. Soybean Basis Popping
A strengthening basis as the future price is increasing indicates strong consumption. For a cash price that has been diminished by reduced China exports, the…
U.S. Soy Exporters Capitalize on Changing Trade Patterns
Logistics for most products is a ratable service because the origination, destination and quantity shipped are all known. For agricultural goods and commodities in general,…
Brazil Rail Projects Impact Soybean Exports
On February 7, 2019, the Brazilian Supreme Court reinstated the National Land Transportation Agency’s (ANTT) authority to issue fines for anyone who does not pay…
Weaker Currency Offsetting Higher Brazilian Truck Freight Rates
One factor that will eventually help U.S. soybean farmers obtain a higher soybean price is higher Brazilian truck freight rates increasing the Brazilian soybean port…
Upper Mississippi River Open
As bad luck would have it, during the time period when the upper Mississippi River traditionally would open to barge traffic, the river reached flood…