Summer Beef Production Spiking; 2014 to See Record Beef Prices U.S. beef production will reach a 21-year low according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Production for 2014 is expected to be 10.93 MMT, the fourth straight year of reduced production and about five percent smaller than last year -- and all of this is coming as seasonal production this year is above average.Note the share of feeder cattle over 600 pounds in the table above, which at 57 percent is much higher than normal seasonal averages. Last year at the height of the drought impact the percentage of cattle more than 600 pounds was a similar 58 percent, but the average for the three prior years (2009-11) was about 44.5 percent. This is pumping up production and as i...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Key Takeaways: Argentina is on pace for a record corn crop and record exports in the current marketing year, with abundant supplies likely to keep the country highly competitive in global export markets. Argentina’s record exportable surplus is allowing it to offer highly competitive pri...
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.