Import dependence for food rankles most politicians since they have persistently fed a nationalistic feedback loop on the issue to their constituents. No one is demanding that their television sets be manufactured locally, but food is national security and others can’t be trusted. This is especially true in China where President Xi Jinping has been preaching that local leaders must stop the conversion of farmland to non-agricultural uses for the sake of food security. Officials proclaim progress toward the goal, but some data tell a different story. Overall Chinese arable land has been declining at a little under 1 percent per year. Despite Brazilian President Lula De la Silva’s commitment to reducing the loss of Amazonia...
What You Need to Know Today: Markets got a surprise with a corn yield of 181.2 bushels/acre in the October WASDE, above the average estimate of 177.6 bushels/acre and up from USDA’s September estimate of 178.5 bushels/acre. Although stronger demand is expected to absorb some of the addit...
The USDA has lowered its 2026 red meat production forecasts slightly while forecasting a slight increase in broiler production. Beef is now projected at 24.802 billion pounds, 75 million pounds less than in September. Cow slaughter is expected to be up; however, this will be offset by lower ste...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.