Beef packer margins improved sharply last week but remained deeply negative, with estimated net losses narrowing to -$206/head from the prior week’s extreme levels. The recovery was driven by a stronger boxed beef cutout, which rose to $371.62/cwt, while fed cattle prices moved lower on the week. The combination widened gross margins after several weeks of compression. Despite the improvement, packer profitability remains well below historical averages and continues to reflect structurally tight cattle supplies and elevated procurement costs. Southern Plains feedlot placement margins improved modestly ...
What You Need to Know Today: Iran says its definition of the Strait of Hormuz is now a “vast operation area” that stretches from Jask to Siri Island. The White House said President Trump did not sign a suspension of the TRQs on beef imports but is “finalizing potential...
From WPI Consulting
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.