The Republican majority in the Senate is set to unveil its latest round of COVID-19 relief. At this point it looks to be a $1 trillion package and will set up a stalemate with the House of Representatives and the Senate Democrats. The House has already passed a $3 trillion plan. The expected proposal is likely to cut the $600 per week unemployment benefits authorized in the CARES Act to $200. This would be in addition to state unemployment benefits that cover 70 percent of pre-layoff wages. It is possible that a $450 per week back to work bonus would be included for an additional period of time for those workers who do take a job before a date certain. The $600 per week federal unemployment benefit originally authorized by the CARES...
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.