World Perspectives

Geopolitics Rule; Absence Notable; Frontline Agriculture

Geopolitics Rule During the Cold War, U.S. military planners trumped efforts by American agriculture to challenge the trade distorting effects of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). American farmers were told that the CAP is the glue that holds Europe together, and a divided Europe benefited the pinko-commie Soviet Union. Now geopolitics are trumping the effort to green up the CAP. Russia’s war on Ukraine and a global commodity price spike have pitted food security against the “nature restoration” effort of the F2F with its cut in chemicals and increases in organic and fallow land. Opponents argue that delaying Green Deal measures “is short-sighted, misleading, and even self-destructive.” They rec...

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Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins fell $68/head last week and marked the third straight week of declines to end near -$220, which is back among the worst margins in the past decade. The culprit for weaker margins was an $6/cwt pullback in the Choice cutout and broader beef markets while fed cattle prices ral...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Weather Overrides Trade Deal; Cattle Hit New Highs on Tight Inventories

The big news for Monday’s ag market trade wasn’t the U.S.-EU trade deal, but rather continued favorable weather in the U.S. Midwest that will boost corn and soybean yield potential to record or near-record levels. The weather has private analysts boosting yield expectations by sever...

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WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 28 July)

Update for 28 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where o...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins fell $68/head last week and marked the third straight week of declines to end near -$220, which is back among the worst margins in the past decade. The culprit for weaker margins was an $6/cwt pullback in the Choice cutout and broader beef markets while fed cattle prices ral...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Weather Overrides Trade Deal; Cattle Hit New Highs on Tight Inventories

The big news for Monday’s ag market trade wasn’t the U.S.-EU trade deal, but rather continued favorable weather in the U.S. Midwest that will boost corn and soybean yield potential to record or near-record levels. The weather has private analysts boosting yield expectations by sever...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 28 July)

Update for 28 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where o...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.14/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Sep 25 Wheat closed at $5.385/bushel, up $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.115/bushel, down $0.095 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $279.3/short ton, down $2.3 fr...

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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.

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