As WPI has reported periodically, there are several policy requests for the Title I programs under the new farm bill. Most of them would add costs, such as more funding for crop insurance, higher reference prices under the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program, and changes to the coverage of the Ag Risk Coverage (ARC) program including raising the cap for payments, currently at 10 percent of a county’s benchmark, and increasing the coverage level above the current 86 percent of the county revenue. The biggest surprise, however, is the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) proposal released in July to update base acres. Taken by itself, it could result in lower program support. In combination with other changes, it could be more costly...
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.