World Perspectives
livestock

Bye Bye Black Sheep

New Zealand famously is a country with more sheep than people, but the competition is slipping in favor of humans. The problem is the economics of wool, which is no longer an economically supportive coproduct. Wool is less needed in a warming world with many man-made alternative fibers, and landowners make more money converting grasslands to carbon credit paying forests.   Wool production in New Zealand and in the rest of the world is in decline. While sheep meat output in New Zealand declines along with that of wool, global sheep meat has been expanding. However, it is falling behind the expansion rate of competing animal proteins such as poultry meat. Lamb consumption has always had a smaller group of fans, based on historic ge...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.595/bushel, down $0.06 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.8775/bushel, down $0.075 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.635/bushel, up $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $326.6/short ton, down $1.4...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Oil and Iran Conflict Still in Drivers’ Seat, but This Time Creating Pressure

Volatility has been no stranger to the CBOT these past three weeks, and the one consistency during this time has been the dramatic coupling of ag markets’ fortunes to the foibles of crude oil. That was again true on Monday, but this time crude oil offered a bearish – rather than sup...

War in Iran Taking Toll on Meat Exports Globally and U.S. Agriculture

The war in Iran is taking a toll on meat exports as well as fuel and fertilizer. As noted in a letter to the Administration, “Maritime freight disruptions from the ongoing conflict in Iran pose significant consequences to food security here at home and around the world.” This comes...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.595/bushel, down $0.06 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.8775/bushel, down $0.075 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.635/bushel, up $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $326.6/short ton, down $1.4...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Oil and Iran Conflict Still in Drivers’ Seat, but This Time Creating Pressure

Volatility has been no stranger to the CBOT these past three weeks, and the one consistency during this time has been the dramatic coupling of ag markets’ fortunes to the foibles of crude oil. That was again true on Monday, but this time crude oil offered a bearish – rather than sup...

War in Iran Taking Toll on Meat Exports Globally and U.S. Agriculture

The war in Iran is taking a toll on meat exports as well as fuel and fertilizer. As noted in a letter to the Administration, “Maritime freight disruptions from the ongoing conflict in Iran pose significant consequences to food security here at home and around the world.” This comes...

livestock

U.S. Cattle on Feed - March 2026

U.S. Cattle on Feed in feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.549 million head on March 1, 2026 – similar to  the year-ago total on March 1, 2025 of 11.577 head.  Placements in feedlots during February totaled 1.61 million head - 4 percent above 2025.  Mark...

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From WPI Consulting

Communicating importance of value-added products

Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.

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