According to the Purdue University/CME Ag Economy Barometer, farmers’ outlook is at its lowest level post COVID. The index was 113 in March, which is down 12 points from February and 36 points from March 2021. It is the lowest since April 2020 when the index was 96 – which was the only time since 2016 that the index was below 100. The March index came from a producer survey conducted 14-18 March – about three weeks after the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. A question about the impact of the war was added to the survey. Some topline take aways are below: The Barometer is based on farmers’ perspective on current conditions, expectations for future conditions, and includes a Farm Financial Performance Index, a...
What You Need to Know Today: There has already been a strong run of flash soybean sales announcements in recent weeks, but more than 1.4 MMT reported this morning is an exceptionally large single-day total with major implications for the market. If the sales to China and unknown destinations w...
On Friday, at 6:57 AM, President Donald Trump announced, via a social media post, a 90-day window during which up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef could be imported outside of tariff-rate quotas—a move aimed at bringing down costs for American consumers. This is the secon...
From WPI Consulting
Weighing in on strategic realignment
WPI’s team was retained by the governing board of a U.S. industry organization to review a decision, reached by vote, to invest significant assets into the development and management of an export trading company. WPI’s team conducted a formal review of this decision and concluded that the current level of market saturation would limit the benefits of the investment. Based on WPI’s analysis and recommended actions, the board subsequently reversed its decision and undertook a strategic planning effort to identify more impactful investments. On behalf of numerous clients, WPI has not only assisted in identifying strategic paths but also advised their implementation.