The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) today released the July beef and pork export volumes and values, which are totaled from USDA statistics. Beef exports were up in volume but down in value, and pork exports were up in both. Heifer Slaughter Higher in July Cattle cycles are a period of time during which the number of beef cattle in the nation is alternately expanded and reduced for several consecutive years in response to perceived changes in profitability. These cycles are measured from trough to trough, and the U.S. entered a new one in 2015, moving from herd liquidation to herd expansion. This was built on heifer retention that began in 2014. Recent cattle cycles have typically seen more years of decreasing inventory. To that point...
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...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.