World Perspectives
livestock

Livestock Roundup: Dairy Herd

The U.S. dairy herd in 2025 expanded at the fastest pace since the 1950s and reached a level that has not occurred since the early 1990s. Based on the USDA monthly milk production report for December, the milk cow herd totaled 9.567 million head, up from the prior month and 212,000 head from a year earlier. For the year, the average herd size was up 148,000 head from 2024. The cattle inventory report released by the USDA on 31 January, which counts both beef- and dairy-type cattle at the end of 2025, confirmed the increase. The milk cow inventory was 102 percent of the 1 January 2025 level. Dairy replacement heifers were 100 percent of last year’s level. The peak in the dairy herd count came in September when it was reported at 9.579...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.35/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.3525/bushel, up $0.085 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $11.1225/bushel, up $0.2 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $303.2/short ton, up $7 from yeste...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for January 23-29, 2026 Wheat: Net sales of 373,900 metric tons (MT) for 2025/2026 were down 33 percent from the previous week, but up 3 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 403,800 MT were up 7 percent from the previous week and 32 percent from...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins weakened further, with estimated net losses widening to -$233/head. While boxed beef values continued to firm, gains were outpaced by higher fed cattle prices, pressuring gross margins despite stable carcass weights and drop values. Packer profitability remains well below se...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.35/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.3525/bushel, up $0.085 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $11.1225/bushel, up $0.2 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $303.2/short ton, up $7 from yeste...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for January 23-29, 2026 Wheat: Net sales of 373,900 metric tons (MT) for 2025/2026 were down 33 percent from the previous week, but up 3 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 403,800 MT were up 7 percent from the previous week and 32 percent from...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins weakened further, with estimated net losses widening to -$233/head. While boxed beef values continued to firm, gains were outpaced by higher fed cattle prices, pressuring gross margins despite stable carcass weights and drop values. Packer profitability remains well below se...

Herrington Becomes President of World Perspectives, Inc.

Washington, DC—World Perspectives, Inc. (WPI) is a leading agricultural market analysis and consulting firm making a leadership transition marking an important milestone in the firm’s development. After years of distinguished service as President & CEO, Gary Blumenthal has stepp...

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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.

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