World Perspectives

Fixing the WTO; The Winner is Ag

Fixing the WTO The 13th Ministerial Conference last month in Abu Dhabi was yet another failure by the WTO. Now Singapore has proposed a retreat to discuss fundamental fixes needed to stop the long string of failures. Ultimately, the structural problems of the WTO involve one country, one vote and the necessity of consensus. Gambia with just 1.4 million people and a $2 billion economy has the same voting power as China with 1.4 billion people and $17.7 trillion in GDP. None of the other Bretton Woods institutions have this flaw. The UN is prejudiced toward the more powerful countries via the Security Council. The bias of the IMF and World Bank is toward economic size and capital contributions.  The majority involves poorer countries a...

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Beef packer margins eased slightly to $119/head, declining $7/head week over week as a modest softening in the cutout combined with a small increase in live cattle prices compressed margins. Despite the weekly pullback, margins remain sharply improved on a monthly basis (+$233/head), supported...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

 May 26 Corn closed at $4.5575/bushel, down $0.0625 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $6.07/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.5975/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $314.9/short ton, down $...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: CBOT Cautious Ahead of Acreage, Stocks Reports

The CBOT took a bit of a breather on Monday as traders waited for the upcoming Prospective Plantings and Grain Stocks reports, which the USDA will issue Tuesday at midday. Traders were reluctant to expand risk too much ahead of these two reports, which often change market direction and tone for...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins eased slightly to $119/head, declining $7/head week over week as a modest softening in the cutout combined with a small increase in live cattle prices compressed margins. Despite the weekly pullback, margins remain sharply improved on a monthly basis (+$233/head), supported...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

 May 26 Corn closed at $4.5575/bushel, down $0.0625 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $6.07/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.5975/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $314.9/short ton, down $...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: CBOT Cautious Ahead of Acreage, Stocks Reports

The CBOT took a bit of a breather on Monday as traders waited for the upcoming Prospective Plantings and Grain Stocks reports, which the USDA will issue Tuesday at midday. Traders were reluctant to expand risk too much ahead of these two reports, which often change market direction and tone for...

Forlorn or Failure; Fertile or Futile; AI Impacts; Dirty Dozen Disinformation

Forlorn or Failure The spin from the WTO on the organization’s recent MC14 meetings was that a lot of decisions were adopted, progress was made, and while the event “ran out of time,” new commitments on outstanding issues can still be made in Geneva. Director-General Ngozi Oko...

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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.

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