China's Livestock and Feed Industry Impacted by H7N9 The Chinese government announced that the H7N9 bird flu strain has infected 87 people as of 19 April. This outbreak has severely impacted the country's livestock and feed industry. According to the National Poultry Association, the poultry industry's losses have exceeded $1.6 billion since the first case was discovered. The entire chain, from farmers to traders and processors, has experienced varying levels of losses. In eastern China, where most cases are found, poultry consumption is down by more than 50 percent. Pork consumption also has declined because of the dead pigs found in Shanghai's Huangpu River.Chinese consumers seem to have lost their confidence in meat in general after t...
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.