Last week we noted that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced initial claims for unemployment benefits was 3,283,000, an increase of 3,001,000 from the previous week's revised level. That was a record, but a short lived one. Today, DOL reported that initial claims were 6.648 million, an increase of 3.341 million. In February, unemployment was 3.5 percent; tomorrow the March unemployment rate will be announced, but the survey was taken early in the month and so will not reflect the full extent of layoffs as a result of COVID related shutdowns of businesses in at least 23 states. This isn’t good for meat demand, especially as all the heightened retail demand earlier in the month has probably filled consumers’ home freezers...
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.