Fast Food, Consumer Credit, and Protein Demand Some very bullish economic news from the first quarter of 2012 caught our eye today. First, fast food restaurant chain Yum! Brands (Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut) announced that its 1Q 2012 net income had increased over 1Q 2011 by a huge 73 percent. Yum! was paced by a 6 percent increase in same store sales for Taco Bell, 5 percent for Pizza Hut, and 2 percent for KFC. Taco Bell is introducing a breakfast menu in the U.S. Operating profits for the chain are up 27 percent in the U.S. and 9 percent globally. Yum! opened more than 650 stores in China last year. Of course, Yum! had been using lean, finely textured beef (LFTB) and has announced it would no longer do so. Its sa...
What You Need to Know Today: Declining crop conditions ratings and shaky results from the Pro Farmer crop tour sent grains sharply higher on Tuesday. The Pro Farmer tour in Ohio pegged the state yield at 180.18 BPA, about 5.5 BPA below the tour’s 2025 estimate. Similarly, the Pro Farmer...
Based on a Depression-era statute, President Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion of exports to the U.S., or about 5.2 percent of the $383 billion worth of goods the U.S. imported from Canada in 2025, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Of that total, about $39.3 billion was agricu...
Key Takeaways: Brazil’s growing role in global agriculture is accompanied by a major vulnerability: the country imports approximately 88 percent of its fertilizer needs. High natural gas costs and development challenges have limited domestic nitrogen and potash production despite Brazil&...
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.