It has been a tumultuous three months for grain and soy markets, which have been roiled by the Trump administration’s aggressive “take no prisoners” approach to trade, trading agreements and trading partners. Imposing tariffs on imports of steel, aluminum, industrial products and, more recently, consumer goods led Mexico, Canada, the EU and China to retaliate with tariffs of their own on a variety of imports from the U.S. Exports of U.S. agricultural commodities have been a prime focus of these retaliatory efforts because they are easy to target and readily replaced by shipments from elsewhere. In addition, farmers and rural areas heavily supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, and hitting that constituen...
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
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.