World Perspectives
livestock

Cow-Calf Revenues Set Record in 2024, Profitability to Continue in 2025

The rally in feeder cattle and calf prices from September 2024 through mid-January 2025 provided cow-calf producers with near-record profitability for the 2024 calf crop. Higher prices for calves and feeder cattle, combined with record- or near-record high values for cull cows, pushed cow-calf operations’ revenues to new all-time highs in 2024. WPI’s early projections for 2025 indicate producers are likely to see similar profitability levels for the coming year with high expected cattle prices set against declining feed costs. 2024 ProfitsCow-calf margins improved significantly from October through December as feeder cattle futures rallied and supported calf prices. Too, basis levels for steers and heifers were above historic norms for...

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wheat

WASDE Wheat - Feb 2026

USDA’s outlook for 2025/26 U.S. wheat is unchanged for exports and slightly higher ending stocks to 931 million bushels - 9 percent higher than last year and the largest since 2019/20. The projected 2025/26 season-average farm price remains at $4.90 per bushel.  The global outlook fo...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: WASDE Confirms Big Supply, Big Demand; Soybeans Gain on Brazil Quality

The headline numbers from the February WASDE – the South American production estimates – were mostly in line with expectations, which is to say the massive Brazilian soybean crop was found to be even more so. USDA increased its assessment of the Brazilian crop to a new record, which...

WPI Website Security Update - 10 February

On the morning of 9 February, WPI identified unauthorized activity on our website server. Upon discovery, we immediately secured the website and server, took the necessary and advisable steps to examine the environment for comprimises, and deployed the website to a new, secure server.  Our...

wheat

WASDE Wheat - Feb 2026

USDA’s outlook for 2025/26 U.S. wheat is unchanged for exports and slightly higher ending stocks to 931 million bushels - 9 percent higher than last year and the largest since 2019/20. The projected 2025/26 season-average farm price remains at $4.90 per bushel.  The global outlook fo...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: WASDE Confirms Big Supply, Big Demand; Soybeans Gain on Brazil Quality

The headline numbers from the February WASDE – the South American production estimates – were mostly in line with expectations, which is to say the massive Brazilian soybean crop was found to be even more so. USDA increased its assessment of the Brazilian crop to a new record, which...

WPI Website Security Update - 10 February

On the morning of 9 February, WPI identified unauthorized activity on our website server. Upon discovery, we immediately secured the website and server, took the necessary and advisable steps to examine the environment for comprimises, and deployed the website to a new, secure server.  Our...

New World Screwworm Facility in the U.S.

In June 2025, Secretary Rollins announced a five-pronged plan to enhance USDA’s ability to detect, control, and eliminate NWS. As part of that announcement, she also shared plans to build a sterile NWS fly dispersal facility in South Texas. That announcement was made on 30 January, when U...

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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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