Humans are fretting the deep cold temperatures savaging the U.S. this winter. However, it may be good for crops. White House Drives Ethanol Policy EPA has been absorbing all of the criticism from the ethanol industry for proposing lower production targets, but it turns out that its nemesis is over at the executive office of the president. The agency was easily hammered by the Office of Management and Budget because of its repeated prior over-estimates of cellulosic and E-85. The White House was worried that the price of RINs would spike again and asked what EPA was using as a target RIN price. It particularly took issue with the agency's biodiesel forecast, accusing EPA of being politically tone deaf. In EPA's defense, that has lapsed bef...
Communicating importance of value-added products
Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.
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...