As we and the markets wait for tomorrow's stocks and acreage reports, it seems like a good time to get rid of a few other things that have occurred to us but have not the opportunity to mention. So if you will indulge us, here are some extraneous comments about a variety of things. MF Global The situation in the wake of MF Global's collapse and bankruptcy is as murky five months later as it was when it happened. The key questions of what happened to the reported $1.6 billion that was/is missing, and who was responsible for dipping into segregated customer funds that were apparently used to cover some of the company's other obligations remain unanswered. Perhaps CFTC and the Justice Department/FBI investigators have some insights, but if...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
From WPI Consulting
Communicating importance of value-added products
Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.