Comfortable and Safe Food processors are reporting brisk sales of their processed products. Nestlé’s Hot Pockets are selling lot hot cakes; Nielsen reports that canned soup sales are up 37 percent, canned meat rose 60 percent and frozen pizza is up 51 percent. Products that were mocked pre-coronavirus as unhealthy are now serving as “comfort” foods. Science author George Zaidan says have no fear. More than half our calories come from ultra-processed foods and there is no evidence when using the best scientific methods to prove they are harmful. Zaidan notes that most of the reports calling these foods harmful are derived from flawed prospective cohort studies and other non-robust methods. Processing your dinner fro...
What You Need to Know Today: The corn and soybean markets closed slightly higher in low-volume trade. The wheat market was mixed, with HRW continuing its downward trek on improved moisture. As expected, the bearish cattle on feed report drove down cattle prices and pulled hogs down with it. Mi...
Monday, 25 May is a U.S. holiday, and both the markets and our office will be closed. Please note that the next issue of Ag Perspectives will be published on Tuesday, 26 May. The WPI staff wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend...
USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report was released today. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity amounted to 11.6 million head, 102 percent of last year. Source: USDA, WPI Placements were up, but part of that is attributable to persistent drought c...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.