The activist community wonders why there can be food waste and hungry people at the same time. They want the rich countries to solve the problem, but it is more complex than waving a magic wand. First, it is unclear that the data regarding food waste is correct. Economic theory suggests that price is a driving factor. The lower the relative cost, the higher the abundance and thus the propensity to waste what is unneeded or deemed in excess. However, based on the data available, Nigeria has both high food costs and very high food waste. The correlation of food waste to food costs as a share of disposable income yields a result of just 0.4, which is a somewhat weak indicator. Food tends to be wasted more in rich countries at the consumer lev...
What You Need to Know Today: The corn and soybean markets closed slightly higher in low-volume trade. The wheat market was mixed, with HRW continuing its downward trek on improved moisture. As expected, the bearish cattle on feed report drove down cattle prices and pulled hogs down with it. Mi...
Monday, 25 May is a U.S. holiday, and both the markets and our office will be closed. Please note that the next issue of Ag Perspectives will be published on Tuesday, 26 May. The WPI staff wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend...
USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report was released today. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity amounted to 11.6 million head, 102 percent of last year. Source: USDA, WPI Placements were up, but part of that is attributable to persistent drought c...
From WPI Consulting
Communicating importance of value-added products
Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.