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: Markets got a surprise with a corn yield of 181.2 bushels/acre in the October WASDE, above the average estimate of 177.6 bushels/acre and up from USDA’s September estimate of 178.5 bushels/acre. Although stronger demand is expected to absorb some of the addit...
Key Takeaways: On Friday afternoon, President Trump announced that Russia will “immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel” to the United States. The deal, typical of this administration, is light on details but promises an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 m...
The USDA has lowered its 2026 red meat production forecasts slightly while forecasting a slight increase in broiler production. Beef is now projected at 24.802 billion pounds, 75 million pounds less than in September. Cow slaughter is expected to be up; however, this will be offset by lower ste...
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.