U.S. consumer spending patterns have undergone several significant shifts since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the food industry was no different. Since the pandemic, consumers have increased spending on food-away-from-home (FAFH) purchases dramatically while simultaneously cutting back on food-at-home (FAH). In this article, WPI attempts to quantify these changes and infer what they will mean for the grocery and restaurant industries – and those that supply them – for the rest of 2025. For this analysis, WPI used the USDA ERS’s “Monthly sales of food, with taxes and tips, for all purchasers” dataset from the Food Expenditure Series and focused on the 2010-2024 period. To avoid obfuscating the results, data f...
There was heavy volume exiting soybeans, which dragged down the broader market today. The lack of a specific Chinese buying commitment for soybeans undermined speculators who had placed bets on state-directed trade. But even the Chinese do not totally ignore market fundamentals. They may still...
On Tuesday, 12 May, WPI reported on an Executive Order being prepared by the Trump Administration to suspend tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on beef from all exporters for 200 days as a means of addressing high beef prices in the United States. After considerable pushback from cattle producer groups,...
WPI has officially launched Transportation Perspectives as a standalone weekly report separate from our Ag Perspectives articles and analysis. Current Ag Perspectives subscribers will have gratis access to the report through 16 April 2026. Please email us or subscribe online after this date to...
From WPI Consulting
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.