Federal Government Shutdown to Impact Livestock Trading This is day three of the federal government shutdown. There is no information released from USDA for the slaughter and feeder receipts and chick placements as noted above. That data, which gives a proxy to feed demand trends compared to the previous week and previous year, is of course delayed. Today's data would have been from the week ending 27 September. We were able to access the numbers for feeder pig receipts and feeder cattle at auctions from prior to the government shutdown.However, much of USDA's livestock data is contemporaneous, especially the cash price reporting and slaughter rates. This will have an impact not only on cash trade but also on futures trading. Similar t...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Key Takeaways: Argentina is on pace for a record corn crop and record exports in the current marketing year, with abundant supplies likely to keep the country highly competitive in global export markets. Argentina’s record exportable surplus is allowing it to offer highly competitive pri...
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.