Dairy Crisis Fix The U.S. dairy industry has spent decades myopically focused on extracting high prices for milk out of American consumers. The Federal Milk Marketing Order system is so complex that only an elite few understand how it operates. All the while per capita milk consumption has been plummeting. Exports have been growing at nearly 4.5 percent per year despite the near lack of interest by the industry. For example, the global market demands mozzarella lower in salt, but the domestic industry insisted on making it saltier because that fit the domestic market. Now the reality of the market situation has hit like a 2x4 and a study has recommended some form of revamp. It appears the reality of the situation will finally force some ha...
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...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.