Doing Good to Be Bad Four large food companies (Danone, Mars, Nestle and Unilever) have formed the Sustainable Food Policy Alliance, which will focus on producing products with better environmental and health impacts. They have received a great deal of positive publicity for the initiative, but there may be a dark side to it all. An estimated 90 percent of the 250 largest companies now produce annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. University of Chicago economist John List analyzed these programs to understand the benefits they must provide to encourage such high adoption rates. The intuitive conclusion is that CSR helps the demand side by building customer loyalty, but the data revealed something different. List found that...
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
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.