World Perspectives
livestock softs

New Tax Magnet; Pinging Barriers

Food may be replacing fossil fuels as the flavor of the day for taxes while the WTO’s new system for reporting regulatory barriers to trade may need to be reversed to be truly effective. New Tax Magnet For decades, fossil fuels attracted lots of taxes (and subsidies) due to the essential necessity of energy and its big economic value. By contrast, food was mostly just subsidized with even small sales taxes characterized as regressive and harmful to the poor. Now, new food tax ideas are exploding; whether it is to punish the consumption of foods deemed unhealthful (fat, sugar), perceived to contribute to climate change (beef, other livestock products and vegetable oil), or simply to raise tax revenue (restaurants). Marco Springmann of the...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: War and Easter Exit Strategy

There were a lot of moving parts on the last trading day of the holiday-shortened week, but liquidation and profit-taking may have been the strongest. A prolonged war and higher energy prices will impact consumption and inflation, while supporting biofuels. Storm systems may reduce some of the...

livestock

Poultry Production Rebounds on Heavier Weights

Through the week ending 21 March, U.S. broiler production remains well above year-ago levels, with total headcount surpassing 2.04 billion, a 3.63 percent increase compared to 2025. While overall supply levels continue to expand, the distribution across weight classes further highlights a prono...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.5225/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.9825/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.635/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $315.2/short ton, down $3 fr...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: War and Easter Exit Strategy

There were a lot of moving parts on the last trading day of the holiday-shortened week, but liquidation and profit-taking may have been the strongest. A prolonged war and higher energy prices will impact consumption and inflation, while supporting biofuels. Storm systems may reduce some of the...

livestock

Poultry Production Rebounds on Heavier Weights

Through the week ending 21 March, U.S. broiler production remains well above year-ago levels, with total headcount surpassing 2.04 billion, a 3.63 percent increase compared to 2025. While overall supply levels continue to expand, the distribution across weight classes further highlights a prono...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.5225/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.9825/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.635/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $315.2/short ton, down $3 fr...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.5425/bushel, down $0.035 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.975/bushel, down $0.1875 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.685/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $318.2/short ton, up $1.8...

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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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