World Perspectives
livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Meat packer margins worsened again last week as profits for both beef and pork packers declined. Beef packer margins were sharply lower and hit another record low at -$253/head thanks to record highs in fed cattle prices that outpaced gains in the beef markets. Pork packer margins turned negative for the first time in four weeks and just the fourth time in the past year as the combination of weaker pork values and high hog costs pressured profits. For the beef industry, the continued plight of packers’ margins implies slaughter levels will remain reduced through summer and there could be a reduction in packing capacity later this year.  As is so often the case in this industry, ...

Related Articles
soy-oilseeds

WASDE Soybeans - May 2025

USDA’s outlook for 2025/26 U.S. soybeans is for lower ending stocks: The U.S. share of global soybean exports is forecast at 26 percent - down from 28 percent last year. Accordingly, U.S. soybean exports are forecast at 1.815 billion bushels, down 35 million from 2024/25. The 2025/26 U.S...

feed-grains

WASDE Corn - May 2025

USDA’s outlook for 2025/26 U.S. corn is for record supplies and total use: Higher ending stocks are expected to result from 15.8 billion bushels of corn production, up 6 percent from a year ago. Projected planted area of 95.3 million acres would be the highest in over a decade. The corn y...

wheat

WASDE Wheat - May 2025

USDA’s outlook for 2025/26 U.S. wheat is for supplies to be up 2 percent from 2024/25 as higher beginning stocks more than offset lower production. The average wheat yield is projected at 51.6 bushels per acre, up 0.4 bushels from last year. Exports are projected lower at 800 million bush...

soy-oilseeds

WASDE Soybeans - May 2025

USDA’s outlook for 2025/26 U.S. soybeans is for lower ending stocks: The U.S. share of global soybean exports is forecast at 26 percent - down from 28 percent last year. Accordingly, U.S. soybean exports are forecast at 1.815 billion bushels, down 35 million from 2024/25. The 2025/26 U.S...

feed-grains

WASDE Corn - May 2025

USDA’s outlook for 2025/26 U.S. corn is for record supplies and total use: Higher ending stocks are expected to result from 15.8 billion bushels of corn production, up 6 percent from a year ago. Projected planted area of 95.3 million acres would be the highest in over a decade. The corn y...

wheat

WASDE Wheat - May 2025

USDA’s outlook for 2025/26 U.S. wheat is for supplies to be up 2 percent from 2024/25 as higher beginning stocks more than offset lower production. The average wheat yield is projected at 51.6 bushels per acre, up 0.4 bushels from last year. Exports are projected lower at 800 million bush...

livestock

WASDE Livestock

The May WASDE included this disclaimer:  Effective May 11, 2025, the USDA announced the suspension of live cattle, horse, and bison imports from Mexico due to recent detections of New World Screwworm (NWS) in southern Mexico. Forecasts in this report reflect this suspension and, in the abs...

Image
From WPI Consulting

Illuminating the value of technical research

On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.

Search World Perspectives

Sign In to World Perspectives

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up