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

Market Commentary: Bulls Win Post-WASDE Standoff

Monday’s CBOT trade quickly erased any hints of weakness that emerged during Friday’s post-WASDE selloff. The WASDE itself was – in WPI’s view – either bearish or neutral the major commodities, but futures didn’t see it that way on Monday. The soybean and soy...

livestock

Qualified WASDE Livestock Numbers

USDA released the November World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report on Friday, the first report since September due to the government shutdown. In it, USDA lowered its 2025 red meat production forecast and increased its broiler production outlook. However, the WASDE include...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.3475/bushel, up $0.045 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.4425/bushel, up $0.17 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $11.5725/bushel, up $0.3275 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $330.8/short ton, up $8.3 from...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Bulls Win Post-WASDE Standoff

Monday’s CBOT trade quickly erased any hints of weakness that emerged during Friday’s post-WASDE selloff. The WASDE itself was – in WPI’s view – either bearish or neutral the major commodities, but futures didn’t see it that way on Monday. The soybean and soy...

livestock

Qualified WASDE Livestock Numbers

USDA released the November World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report on Friday, the first report since September due to the government shutdown. In it, USDA lowered its 2025 red meat production forecast and increased its broiler production outlook. However, the WASDE include...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.3475/bushel, up $0.045 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.4425/bushel, up $0.17 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $11.5725/bushel, up $0.3275 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $330.8/short ton, up $8.3 from...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Daily Estimate of Managed Money Positioning in Ag Futures

Amid the ongoing delays in releasing the backlogged CFTC data, WPI presents the following estimates of managed money traders’ positioning in key agricultural futures markets. WPI’s estimates are based on econometric and signal processing methods that use futures price, volume, and o...

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From WPI Consulting

Illuminating the value of technical research

On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.

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