USDA and the EPA have targeted a 50 percent reduction in food waste by 2030, which is about 4.75 billion pounds (2.375 MMT) annually for the next 14 years. They are proposing a hierarchy of actions to accomplish this, which could possibly have significant, unintended consequencesReducing food waste is a hot new topic among the news media and in political circles. Even some retailers are testing the market demand for this cause. Walmart is now selling “ugly” apples and potatoes in test markets at a discount to regular commercial produce, and Trader Joe’s is following suit. These are products that are misshapen, scarred or dented, which can occur from growing conditions and during handling. Sometimes the products are just smaller than average...
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.