By the end of this month, USDA will have to decide whether to hold a public hearing on the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO). This would be the first hearing in more than a decade. As WPI reported back in March, changes to the FMMO are a good bet given the impact of COVID on the dairy market, especially in light of an FMMO change in the 2018 farm bill (more below). Producer groups, primarily the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), have been working on dairy program reforms for a couple of years now and in May, WPI summarized the proposed reforms to the FMMO submitted to USDA by NMPF with AFBF’s support. Since then, the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the Wiscons...
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
The big news in the cattle markets yesterday was Tyson Foods’ move to close two more beef plants. One of them, the Joslin, Illinois, plant was shuttered immediately after the announcement. The other, in Eagle Mountain, Utah, is a case-ready plant that does not slaughter cattle. Tyson also...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
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.