World Perspectives
livestock

Livestock Roundup: Hog Pressures

Last week, WPI noted in a summer cattle market outlook that 14 percent of the cattle producing regions were in drought, compared to 38 percent last year, with the exception of the southeast cow/calf country where drought is worsening and raises questions about cow culling, heifer retention, and hay and forage crops in the region.   The latest crop progress report shows that more than 91 percent of the corn crop in North Carolina is rated fair, or worse. Very poor ratings cover 44 percent of the crop, and 29 percent is rated as poor. That may mean a lot of corn in the state could be chopped for silage for forage, but not much can be transported to bigger cow calf areas of Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and elsewhere. And with 67 per...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Volatility Continues with Corn Less Supported than Soybeans

The market continues to look for a floor following Monday’s WASDE report, with soybeans and soyoil finding terra firma on a bullish NOPA report that showed crush at a near-record level. Volume was generally subdued but skyrocketed in soyoil as traders sought to get a piece of the rising a...

Transportation and Export Report - January 15, 2026

WPI is pleased to the second week of the Transportation and Export Report, a weekly industry publication previously produced by ocean freight specialist Jay O’Neil. This report, which WPI recently acquired, will strengthen WPI’s coverage of global ocean freight markets by building o...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins rebounded modestly last week but remained deeply negative. Margins improved $60/head to –$249 as the Choice cutout rose $14/cwt while fed cattle prices were mostly steady. The improvement reflects a short-term stabilization in boxed beef values following the sharp post...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Volatility Continues with Corn Less Supported than Soybeans

The market continues to look for a floor following Monday’s WASDE report, with soybeans and soyoil finding terra firma on a bullish NOPA report that showed crush at a near-record level. Volume was generally subdued but skyrocketed in soyoil as traders sought to get a piece of the rising a...

Transportation and Export Report - January 15, 2026

WPI is pleased to the second week of the Transportation and Export Report, a weekly industry publication previously produced by ocean freight specialist Jay O’Neil. This report, which WPI recently acquired, will strengthen WPI’s coverage of global ocean freight markets by building o...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins rebounded modestly last week but remained deeply negative. Margins improved $60/head to –$249 as the Choice cutout rose $14/cwt while fed cattle prices were mostly steady. The improvement reflects a short-term stabilization in boxed beef values following the sharp post...

livestock

Livestock Round Up: Tariff Impacts on Beef Supply

While President Trump has stuck to the storyline that tariffs are an economic boost for the U.S., one sector in particular shows a different story: beef. As WPI has noted many times, about half of all beef consumption in the U.S. is in the form of ground beef, and that ground beef relies on imp...

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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.

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