There have been some interesting developments on the weekly charts of agriculture stocks this week. With stock markets looking like they are bottoming, we are beginning to see the same with a few agriculture stocks. However readers, I bet you next week’s sector roundup is going to be a busy one if stock markets close green this week!

Here are some of the major weekly movers this week:

RiceBran Technologies (RIBT)

A stock that has been showing up on my roundups every week, and continues to be the hottest stock in agriculture. I did a piece on RiceBran Technologies which can be read here. Fundamentally, the rice market is getting some major headlines including India potentially banning exports, and Vietnam and Thailand forming a rice cartel.

There was news released this week. RiceBran announced the initiation of a capacity expansion of the company’s Core-SRB facility in Mermentau, Louisiana. This is expected to increase the capacity enabling RiceBran to meet the growing demand for North American sourced ingredients for the companion animal market. The project is expected to be completed in Q3 and is being executed by RiceBran’s own internal engineering team and is to be completed at minimal cost to the company.

“These upgrades provide important redundancy and will allow our rice bran stabilizing facility in Mermentau to match the full capacity of our supply partner, who in turn has made investments over the past two years to minimize historical seasonal downtime,” said core-SRB business lead Garry Primeaux. “Together, with the remediation and enhancement of Lake Charles, these factors add significant to overall capacity to our Louisiana operations, ensuring that we will be able to meet the rapidly growing demands of new and existing customers the companion animal market, with only a modest capital investment.”

“The companion animal market is experiencing tremendous growth due to the high volume of people that acquired animal companions during the Covid epidemic,” said RiceBran Chairman Peter Bradley. “This growth has been further accelerated by the popularity of companion animals in higher-demographic households, and these new owners’ desire to feed their pets healthy and natural products. Combined, these factors are driving a structural shift in the industry toward stabilized rice bran ingredients, and we are able to respond. This relatively modest investment at Mermentau, along with the remediation and enhancement of our Lake Charles facility, provides RiceBran with a unique opportunity to capitalize on the current macro-environment.”

Before we get to the chart, I did a technical video on RiceBran which you can see above.

Things haven’t changed on the chart. All my levels are still in play. We still do have a nice reversal pattern triggered. Big volume continues.

We remain supportive above $0.6285 which has seen buyers jump in on recent tests. Now, we wait for the breakout trigger above $0.7500. That confirms the higher low and gets us going to $1.00. So far we just cannot close above this level and continue to range between support and resistance. We almost got this breakout on June 1st but to no avail. Hopefully we get a nice green candle breakout in upcoming days!

 

The Andersons (ANDE)

The Andersons is an agriculture company that operates in trade, renewables, and plant nutrient sectors in the United States and internationally. The company’s trade segment operates grain elevators; stores commodities; and provides grain marketing, risk management, and origination services to its customers and affiliated ethanol facilities. This segment also engages in the commodity merchandising business, as well as offers logistics for physical commodities, such as whole grains, grain products, feed ingredients, domestic fuel products, and other agricultural commodities.

This is a big company bringing in big revenue, and is a play for more agriculture supply chain news.

If you are looking for an agriculture play that could be bottoming along with the stock markets, this is the one. The stock hit a major support zone at $34. Look at the large wick bids on May 4th 2022. The stock has held up nicely, ranging for about three trading weeks. To me, a breakout is looking likely. When a stock holds support for this long, it is usually a sign that a reversal is coming. There is some interim resistance at $39.35 that I am watching.

 

Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM)

Sprouts Farmers Market offers fresh, natural, and organic food products in the United States. The company offers perishable product categories, including fresh produce, meat, seafood, deli, bakery, floral and dairy, and dairy alternatives; and non-perishable product categories, such as grocery, vitamins and supplements, bulk items, frozen foods, beer and wine, and natural health and body care.

You guys know that I have been accumulating supermarket and grocery store stocks. I do think we will be seeing rising prices and a larger food issue. These stores will become invaluable and the most important things in major cities.

Another chart that has had quite the bounce at major support. Now, we are looking to breakout. A close above $27 gets this going. Note the gap from here until $30. This gap could be resistance, but if Sprouts closes above $30 and fills this gap, it would be super bullish. The stock has seen many green days in a row recently and is breaking above resistance. Can the momentum continue with a broader stock market pop?

 

Bee Vectoring (BEE.CN)

When it comes to a company looking to use less inputs for more yield, look no further than Bee Vectoring. In fact just last week we had Ashish Malik, CEO of Bee Vectoring, come on Maddy’s 5 easy questions and discussed the importance of using much less resources than traditional crop treatment. I highly suggest you watch the video below.

In terms of innovation, Bee Vectoring is revolutionizing agriculture and crop protection naturally through utilizing commercially-reared bees and their integral role in pollination.

I wrote a larger piece on the fundamentals for this company which can be read here.

Bee Vectoring’s most recent news deals with its first stone fruit trial in the US Pacific Northwest. The trial is being conducted to achieve a proof of concept for greater yield with BVT’s natural precision agriculture system. It uses BVT’s proprietary Vectorite™ with CR-7 (Clonostachys rosea CR-7) biological fungicide, applied through the process of bee vectoring directly onto cherry blooms.

“This initial stone fruit trial marks BVT’s entry into the important US stone fruit market,” said Ashish Malik, CEO of BVT. “In addition to cherries, stone fruits include peaches, nectarines, plums, prunes, and apricots, all grown on more than 270,000 acres⁽⁴⁾ of farmland in the US. This is a very attractive crop grouping for BVT because of their high use of paid pollination hives, with over 75% of cherry acres⁽⁵⁾ using pollination services.”

Chart wise we are awaiting the break above $0.225 to reclaim what was once support. We had a nice pop this week near the all time lows at $0.20. This move is why on a weekly timeframe Bee Vectoring is one of the largest movers. A lot of signs of a potential reversal. Reclaiming $0.225 is the missing trigger. We have a catalyst next week. Bee Vectoring is scheduled to announce its Q2 2022 earnings on June 8th 2022.