(us farm report brought to you by basf. grow smart with basf and get the most acre after acre season after mark gold, top third, and mike north with commodity risk management group. now, you wanted to go by force trading, right? >> star wars trading. >> star wars ading, yeah, it's that kind of week, isn^t it? [ lauguger ] >> first we gototo wish everybody a merry christmas out there. >> absolutely, merry christmas. >> and a happy new year, and it's nice to see everybody, and hope everybody has a great holiday season. . yeah, you know, we've e en talking about these markets over the last few weeks, and it has just been a struggle. it's been a struggle, i think, mentally and you almost feel like physically to get through what we see as kind of a tough stretch here for a arican agriculturur is that the read you're getting? >> yeah, absolutely. obviously as guys close out the year and start doing tax planning and looking forward to the next year a preparing budgets it^s certainly got people down because the opportunities out th

agday brought to youby basf grow smart with basf and get the most acre after acre season after season it's a place where southernhistory and holiday beauty come together in spectacular fashion.the decorations at the biltmore estate in asheville, northcarolina include the work of a floral manager who got her startyears ago as a student at the university of tennessee. charlesdenney from the u-t institute of agriculture shows us her love ofhistory, art and plants. [music] capturing christmas past, straight out of george vanderbilt's celebration in thelate 1800's, biltmore estate today is stunning. the banquethall includes a 34 foot tall and all the trimmings, there'shorticulture here too, plants and flowers, 250 poinsettiasalone. more than 300thousand people tour biltmore during theholidays. cathy barnhardt and her team work to make theexperience special, and even pass on decorating ideas. "wefeel like that's part of our job here is to inspire our guests. imean biltmore is all about inspiration so the floraldepartment wants to inspire people in ways to use plants andflowers in their hous

coming up, more on the challenges facing basf.0 points in the green. ♪ that is victoria harbor in hong kong where the markets are trading a little soft today. in london, we will open a little bit higher when things get going. let's get you up to speed. let's go to bloomberg's caroline hyde. caroline: as if the pain were not enough for miners, yesterday the worst performing industry grew down more than 6% and today let's keep an eye on one miner in particular. we're expecting them to fall on the open. they have been announced that they suffered a spill in one of their minds. minera saucito is what it is called. a spill of toxic residue. ruptured tubese affecting an area of 8000 square meters. the german chemicals, he could fall as well. they are facing more competition. that news out of the united states that dow chemical and dupont in late stage merger talks. they could become the second biggest company combined the basf in germany. newsre putting out a conference saying that basf itself is facing challenges because of oversupply

(us farm report brought to you by basf. grow smart with basf and get the most acre after acre season after season.) as more and more americans move thoughts and tendencies of voters may get tougher. john phipps joins us from his illinois farm to explain. we're down to the final year of the 2016 election season, and there seems to be a problem. according to a recent paper by political scientists, our main source of ammunition for policy arguments is becoming unreliable. people are not responding to surveys like they used to. not only are we not answering public surveys when contacted, when we do particpate, we skip some questions or answer inaccurately. all this leads to feeling sorry for researchers who are worried about this development. after all these are the people who call you at all hours, but especially incovenient times. moreover, many so-called surveys are just thinly disguised marketing scams. but as this election season grinds on endlessly, the consequence of americans' increasing refusal to share information wit

farm report is brought to you by basf, growsmart with basf and get the most acre after acre, season after season. tool to have on the farm. justgo to usfarmreport.com and click on the link to get details.deadline is december 16 so don't delay. no doubt you've noticed afew ofjohn's projects underway in his shop. in john's world,and likely in yours, the final product is worthwhile but thejob of finishing is often over my shoulder, i have beenmaking slow progress on the slant front desk for mydaughter-in- law. at this point roughly two years behindschedule my fitful progress has been less a source ofconcern than an running gag at family gatherings. but i am entering the part of the construction process that i havebeen slow to learn how to enjoy: finishing. one big realizationfor me over the years in the shop has been when the cuttingand gluing and routing is done, you are only about halfway tocompletion. there remain many incredibly dull hours ofsanding, staining and finishing. these steps aren't nearly asmuch fun as inflicting steel on cellulose and there aren't manyshortcuts to make them f

(us farm report brought to you by basf. grow smart with basf and get the most acre after acre season after season.) people in and out of the ag industry have spent plenty of time recently discussing nutrientntanagement--- espepeally when it comes t t nitrates. that topic is at the heart of a recent mailbag following the nitrate lawsuit in iowa and stan ortman in kokomo, indiana has a good question: "i've followed the des moines water issue from a distance, and would appreciate your insight. are the standards reasonable, or are they set at lowest detectable levels?" stan, i think this is a great place to start to understand this issue a little better. the short answer is, like most detection methods today, we have ways, such as colorimetry to detect down to about one twentieth of a part per million or ppm. given enough time and money i expect we could go much farther than that. under e safe srinking water act, the maximum contaminant level for nitrates is 10 milligrams per liter which is the same as 10 parts per million you'

and dupont will take the lead as the world's biggest chemical company, surpassing by far germany's basf. exxon mobil would slip down to fourth place. the merger was pitched as a way to help the companies find synergies before breaking up into separate businesses. the deal comes as sinking commodity prices and a strong dollar have put both under pressure. daniel: earlier i spoke to our financial correspondent. i asked how investors are reacting to the merger. >> hi, daniel. companies do like the merger. ultimately it will depend on how the companies handle the merger. it will not be easy. some sectors will collide and that ultimately may lead to job cuts and that is something authorities and regulators do not like to hear. all in all, the sheer size will lead to a savings of $3 billion every year and that is something that investors look for. daniel: all right, time to check on the markets. a bad end to the week. the german dax closed down almost 2.5%, dropping almost 250 points. euro stoxx and dow jones seeing losses. your stocks closing to present down. analysts say that is because the

become the world's second largest chemical company with $90 billion in sales, trailing only germany's basf. the new company would sell 17% of the world's pesticides and be the third largest supplier of crop chemicals. u.s. farmers would buy nearly half their corn seed and almost 40% of their soybeans from the newly combined company. shareholders might like those numbers, but the farmers who buy those seeds will probably be heard from when the justice department tries to figure out whether the deal passes regulatory muster. >> if it does go through, there will be significantig concessio, certainly more than the company's willing to make in the first go-round. this is going to be a political issue. it's about jobs, it's about the economy, it's about two companies that people actually know the names of and probably care about. >> reporter: dennis burman wrote a column in today's "wall street journal" about this year's rash of large-scale mergers. "2015 is already the record-holder with more than $4.3 trillion worth of deals done. pfizer buying aller again for $150 billion, an heister bush inb

no, they are saying basf is not stopping. the chinese aren't stopping. we have to combine. the world is not looking like we thought. they are thinking 2022. >> chipotle's ceo speaking out about the food safety issues surrounding his company. he apologized to those who have fallin ill from eating there and defended his company's approach to food quality and pledged safety for those that choose to dine at a chipotle. >> if you look at the quality of our ingredients over time, we have made great strides, meats with out antibiotics, more organics an local and sustainably raised foods. this was a very unfortunate incident. i am deeply sorry this happened. the procedures we are putting in place are so above industry norms that we are going to be the safest place to eat. >> the safest place to eat. can they do that, maintain their commitment to certain supply chain issues and grow at the same time? >> it is interesting to see steve ells out there. steve ells doesn't do tv. i think they made a very good case that they are going to be the cleanest and safest. >> been there a couple

>> i think they have to ensure that they're competing with a basf. >> that's a long-term play.going to be next. >> the company isn't going to do well and he's going to be ousted. >> i talked to ed breen. who are you going to put in charge of two of these companies and as they get and continue to make the long-term, what happens when the pressure comes on. you have to continue to invest in the research. if a recession comes if they're together and rationally operations. >> if they're only cutting back office things. they're going to continue to invest. i want to see the long-term investment. here's a contrarian view. we made the argument to me that actually the world has changed. and some of the companies about dupont and health care companies. >> and today there's plenty of venture capital. it's actually flooding into health care and bio tech and all of these other places. and it's actually shifting but the venture capital guys become if they departments if you will. >> it's a strong pipeline without them having 70% inside 30%. i think the corporate -- >> but it exists 30 or 40