Greetings from the balmy Midwest US - it was in the 60s and 70s F last week, and it looks like the same for the rest of this week. For mid-March, this is just beautiful but incredibly bizarre weather for the US.

First off, I'd like to offer a CONGRATS to the winners of our e-newsletter US registration program, and a sincere thanks to all those who signed up and participated. And the winners are...

• Robert Clark, Jr., Maryland
• Tom Doerter, Ohio
• Steve Ford, Tennessee
• Jerrell Dolesh, Nebraska
• Gilbert Clark, Michigan
• David Cunningham, Iowa
• Greg Tylka, Iowa
• Mike Petersen, Nebraska
• Barry Bean, Missouri
• Mike Wardyn, Nebraska

Ok...now back to business. I touched on this last week, but as I reviewed my Commodity Classic notes from different speakers, it kept coming up - a consistent concern over the lack of investment the past 10+ years in US infrastructure. The US government has not been investing in roads, railways, ships or ports to keep up with the export demands and requirements of many of the countries the US wants to trade with.

Jim Wiesemeyer, Informa Economics senior vice president, told a group of farmers at an education seminar that building and rebuilding America needs to occur.

"The thing that makes your industry competitive over the decades has been our infrastructure system - the lock and dams, the barges, the river systems, the railroad system," Wiesemeyer said. "The whole complex is in need of a $2 trillion expenditure. Both political parties' leaders and the President have poked around for a jobs bill, and it's staring them right in the eye."

Switching gears to last Friday's March Supply and Demand Report, the report was essentially neutral and not as bullish as traders expected.

Projected corn carryout stocks remained at 801 million bushels and there were no changes to the soybean S&U projections. But USDA raised both ends of its forecast soybean price range by 30 cents/bu putting the range at $11.40-$12.60/bu.

Movement in the market came from expectations for the South American soybean crop. The Argentine crop was reduced 1.5 MMT from February's 48 MMT while Brazil's crop was trimmed 3.5 MMT to 68.5 MMT.

World corn S&U projections netted 0.1 per cent increase. Argentina's estimated production was reduced by 0.5 MMT in February to 34 MMM in this report. South Africa's crop was reduced by 0.5MMT. However, Brazil's estimated corn crop was increased by 1 MMT from February to 62 MMT.

Have a great week!