Animal Elections The most expensive presidential election in U.S. history is over. How did the animal agriculture industry fare with who/what they backed and who/what won? Two state ballot initiatives of vital interest to animal agriculture were voted on this week. Both provided victories for the livestock sector.North Dakota: Voters defeated the state's proposed Measure 5 by a vote of 66-34 percent; the measure would have made it a class C felony for cruelty to dogs, cats and horses. The opposition was organized by the state's livestock industry under a group called the North Dakota Animal Stewards. According to the group, Measure 5 was "poorly worded by design to give animal rights groups like the HSUS a foothold in North Dakota to m...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.