The World Bank’s food security update notes that the agricultural price index rose one percent from August to September. Food inflation is high in low to middle income countries, with Zimbabwe and Lebanon standouts for having the highest inflation rates in both nominal and real terms (see graph below). The Bank estimates that over 205 million people worldwide are in crisis or worse. The largest increases for food insecurity are occurring in African countries. Notably, the share of rich countries with high food inflation has increased sharply. Hungary and Lithuania have both gone from around 4 percent nominal food inflation a year ago to the low 30 percentile. The UK has gone from 0.9 percent to 12.6 percent, and food price inflation...
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.