The Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) has proposed a ballot initiative for this November’s election in Massachusetts, which was approved by the state’s Supreme Court. It would ban all use of cages in livestock products and could impact producers eleswhere. Cage-Free Massachusetts The Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) has proposed a ballot initiative for this November’s election in Massachusetts, which was approved by the state’s Supreme Court and would ban all use of cages in livestock products. This includes swine gestation stalls, veal pens and layer battery cages. It would also make illegal the sale of any products (pork, veal or eggs) produced with stalls, pens or cages. HSUS first attempted such an initiative in Massachusetts in 1988...
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...
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.