Tomorrow, the USDA will release its January Cattle Inventory Report. Given USDA’s decision to drop the July mid-year report due to budget constraints, tomorrow’s inventory report has been highly anticipated. On Monday of this week, WPI noted the significance of the upcoming report. The next key insight into the markets will be the January cattle report which will show the size of the breeding herd, the size of the 2024 calf crop, and the number of feeder cattle outside of feedlots, i.e. calves under 500 pounds, non-replacement heifers, and steers over 500 pounds. This will be another important piece of information on the cattle inventory and is not expected to show conflicts with the Cattle on Feed report. Last year’...
The corn and soy complex closed higher, with the wheat market mixed, as winter wheat closed up but spring wheat and livestock ended lower. Part of the strength for corn and soybeans may have been a weather premium, as crop planting has started out fast but warm weather has been slow to develop...
Real GDP grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2026, slightly below the consensus expectation of 2.3 percent but above the 0.5 percent growth in Q4 2025. The GDP number matches the average annualized pace of growth since the peak back in late 2007, right before the Financial P...
Reflect for a moment on what you eat. There is a lot of advice out there in the ether about what you should eat, but really, what do you currently eat and how much? The good people at the USDA have some data for you, to help you answer that question. USDA says that we eat quite a bit of meat. L...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.