World Perspectives
livestock

Cattle on Feed Report: Record February Placements

USDA released the monthly Cattle on Feed report today. As has been the case more often than not since mid-2023, actual placements have exceeded the pre-report estimates.  Coming into today’s report the consensus estimate among analysts was for placements to be 106 percent of last year’s total. As WPI wrote yesterday, weather last year was expected to have an impact. Weather conditions kept a lid on February 2023 placements, and 2024 January weather led to fewer cattle being placed, deferring them into February. As WPI wrote after the 1 February Cattle on Feed report, as January’s “wet and muddy conditions have improved, it is likely that February placements have rebounded.” And rebound they did. Actual...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Soybean Spillover Rides Another Day

There was high-volume trading in soybeans again today after hitting record levels yesterday. The enthusiasm carried over to corn and soymeal as well, and there was good volume trading in soyoil contracts. There is understandable skepticism that China would pay 80 cents/bushel more for U.S. soyb...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.35/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.3525/bushel, up $0.085 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $11.1225/bushel, up $0.2 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $303.2/short ton, up $7 from yeste...

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Markets still do not know how to react to President Trump’s announcement that he has completed a trade deal with India. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says the details are being papered, or written up, now. The deal has sparked a transatlantic war of words, with Brussels mocking...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Soybean Spillover Rides Another Day

There was high-volume trading in soybeans again today after hitting record levels yesterday. The enthusiasm carried over to corn and soymeal as well, and there was good volume trading in soyoil contracts. There is understandable skepticism that China would pay 80 cents/bushel more for U.S. soyb...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.35/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.3525/bushel, up $0.085 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $11.1225/bushel, up $0.2 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $303.2/short ton, up $7 from yeste...

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Markets still do not know how to react to President Trump’s announcement that he has completed a trade deal with India. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says the details are being papered, or written up, now. The deal has sparked a transatlantic war of words, with Brussels mocking...

livestock

Livestock Roundup: Dairy Herd

The U.S. dairy herd in 2025 expanded at the fastest pace since the 1950s and reached a level that has not occurred since the early 1990s. Based on the USDA monthly milk production report for December, the milk cow herd totaled 9.567 million head, up from the prior month and 212,000 head from a...

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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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