This week the Census Bureau released the May 2016 U.S. retail sales data. This marked the 14th consecutive month that food service has outsold the grocery sector as a result of several factors.This week the Census Bureau released the May 2016 U.S. retail sales data. The totals were $54.9 billion for restaurants and $52.5 billion for grocery stores. This marks the 14th consecutive month that food service has outsold the grocery sector, the first time this has occurred in the past 15.5 years. Moreover, May’s spending gap is the widest margin to date at $2.35 billion.The reversal in higher consumer spending on food service versus groceries is likely to be a new long-term trend. One key demographic driver is that the average U.S. household size...
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
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.