The destructive U.S. drought of 2012 grabs all of the headlines, but it is not the only drought being inflicted on an important grain producing region of the world. Drought conditions have caused grain production losses in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the countries that combine to supply most of the wheat commonly referred to as Black Sea wheat. Drought-related losses lowered Ukrainian production of wheat and barley, and drought sliced Kazakhstan's wheat production by several million tons. However, it has been Russia where the most significant wheat production losses are occurring.Much of Russia's winter wheat was planted later than usual last fall amid a lack of soil moisture, and then was forced to endure an unusually cold winter eve...
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
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.