World Perspectives

Calm Amidst Upheaval; Unilateral Impacts; Ethanol’s Rise

Calm Amidst Upheaval Data or surveys about attitudes or opinions are said to be “soft” data since they are emotive based and less reliable. Soft data in recent months had been signaling angst about the U.S. economy and Mr. Trump’s handling of it. Yet, hard data has reflected good and more challenging aspects to the economy. The labor market remains stout, if marginally slowing. Retail sales are still rising and inflation has been cooling. Tariffs are expected to slow the economy.  But now soft data is coming in line with hard data on the economy. The National Federation of Independent Business optimism index came out today at 98.8, above the 95.9 expected and above the historical average of 98. The index was at 95.8 t...

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Market Commentary: Bottom Signaled; Beef Attacked

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Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.225/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.0375/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.195/bushel, up $0.0875 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $281/short ton, up $4.1 from...

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Trump Announces Cattle and Beef Plan: Color Us Suspicious

This morning, President Trump announced that the administration is working on a plan to lower beef prices. The price of beef is "higher than we want it, and that's going to be coming down pretty soon too. We did something, we worked out magic" Trump said, with no details offered.   As...

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Trump Announces Cattle and Beef Plan: Color Us Suspicious

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Record Breaking Cow-Calf Profitability for 2025

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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.

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