World Perspectives
livestock

Cattle Expansion Impact on Beef Production; Pork Demand and Profitability

USDA released its annual Cattle Inventory report this week, which showed the cattle herd expanded enough in 2016 to impact beef production through 2018. Meanwhile, continued strong demand is supporting the pork sector. Cattle Expansion to Push Beef Production According to USDA’s Cattle Inventory report, all cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market totaled 13.1 million head on 1 January. That is down 1 percent from the previous year and explains the increase in fat cattle prices,which have driven gross margins for packers down nearly 40 percent on the year.However, there are plenty of cattle coming through the pipeline. All cattle and calves in the U.S. as of 1 January totaled 93.6 million head, up 1.8 percent from the previous y...

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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.

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