World Perspectives
livestock

Livestock Roundup: 2024 Dairy Outlook

USDA’s milk production forecast for 2024 reflects a reduced cow inventory for the year and slower growth in milk output per cow. Total production is forecast to be 228.3 billion pounds, which is a 0.75 percent increase from 2023. As of the end of 2023, the dairy cow inventory was 9.36 million head, down from 9.43 million head at the beginning of the year, and on a faster pace of contraction than 2022. The contraction led to a year-long average herd size of 9.395 million head, down from the average in 2022 of 9.402 million head. That contraction is forecast to continue down to 9.35 million head in 2024. More clarity on the herd size will come at the end of the month with USDA’s Cattle Inventory report which will provide an in...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.4575/bushel, down $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.1725/bushel, down $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.625/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $303.7/short ton, up $0...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Holding Breath for Monday’s WASDE

As expected, it was a lower volume trading day ahead of likely market moving USDA reports on Monday. The exceptions were HRS and lean hogs. There were also generally lower trading ranges. The soybean complex traded higher on strength in coproducts but the rest of the board was mostly in the red...

livestock

New World Screw Worm: A Threat to Dairy?

The dairy industry continues to evolve, though it is facing new challenges. Through September, milk production is up 97 pounds per head in 2025 over 2024 and has increased steadily for several years. Further, there is a migration in dairy cows, with the southern plains growing in cow numbers. T...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.4575/bushel, down $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.1725/bushel, down $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.625/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $303.7/short ton, up $0...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Holding Breath for Monday’s WASDE

As expected, it was a lower volume trading day ahead of likely market moving USDA reports on Monday. The exceptions were HRS and lean hogs. There were also generally lower trading ranges. The soybean complex traded higher on strength in coproducts but the rest of the board was mostly in the red...

livestock

New World Screw Worm: A Threat to Dairy?

The dairy industry continues to evolve, though it is facing new challenges. Through September, milk production is up 97 pounds per head in 2025 over 2024 and has increased steadily for several years. Further, there is a migration in dairy cows, with the southern plains growing in cow numbers. T...

livestock

Where is the Hog Market Headed? Rosy Early Outlook for 2026.

Lean hog futures saw an unexpected rally to conclude 2025 with the market rebounding from an autumn selloff. The rebound was sufficiently strong to push deferred futures to new contract highs and nearby contracts just a few dollar shy of their contract highs. Despite this futures rally, physica...

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From WPI Consulting

Communicating importance of value-added products

Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.

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