World Perspectives
livestock

Cattle Market 2024 Retrospective and 2025 Outlook

This week marks the end of 2024, and the beginning of 2025.  Indeed, 2024 was a notable year in the cattle markets with implications to carry over into next year.  The U.S. cattle inventory entered 2024 at the lowest level since 1951, with the supply of feeder cattle outside feedlots at its lowest since the previous low in 2014, the trough of the current cattle cycle.Despite that, beef production in 2024 is estimated to be 27.035 billion pounds, which would be up from the 2023 production of 26.967 billion pounds, and well above the beginning of the year forecast of 25.99 billion pounds. Increased beef production came about from heavier slaughter weights and more time on feed, driven by cheaper feed. Also playing a role was the gro...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: 2025 Brings Corrections for Overbought Futures

The CBOT started 2025 on a relatively strong note, but any hints of bullishness were largely erased on Friday. Ag markets across the board fell sharply on the second trading day of the new year with weak export data, South American weather, and changes on taxes on trading profits driving much o...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 25 Corn closed at $4.5075/bushel, down $0.0875 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Wheat closed at $5.2925/bushel, down $0.165 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Soybeans closed at $9.9175/bushel, down $0.2025 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Soymeal closed at $308.6/short ton, down $11...

livestock

2025 Poultry Outlook

The poultry sector is poised for production growth in 2025, but price trends are expected to vary across products. Broiler growers in the U.S. placed 191 million chicks for meat production last week, which was up 4 percent from the last week of December 2023. Cumulative placements from the...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: 2025 Brings Corrections for Overbought Futures

The CBOT started 2025 on a relatively strong note, but any hints of bullishness were largely erased on Friday. Ag markets across the board fell sharply on the second trading day of the new year with weak export data, South American weather, and changes on taxes on trading profits driving much o...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 25 Corn closed at $4.5075/bushel, down $0.0875 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Wheat closed at $5.2925/bushel, down $0.165 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Soybeans closed at $9.9175/bushel, down $0.2025 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Soymeal closed at $308.6/short ton, down $11...

livestock

2025 Poultry Outlook

The poultry sector is poised for production growth in 2025, but price trends are expected to vary across products. Broiler growers in the U.S. placed 191 million chicks for meat production last week, which was up 4 percent from the last week of December 2023. Cumulative placements from the...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: New Year, Same Trend - Corn and Beans Higher, Wheat Not

Corn and soybeans opened lower but quickly shifted back to positive territory. All three wheats were lower in overnight trading and pretty much traded lower all during the day session. There was good volume trading in HRW, cattle and feeders. March feeder cattle hit a new contract high. Lean ho...

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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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