USDA will release its Cattle on Feed report tomorrow; the pre-report consensus of analysts’ estimates is for the inventory of cattle on feed as of 1 October to be 99.7 percent of last year; September placements and marketings are expected to be 95.8 and 102 percent respectively of last year’s totals. 10242024dj.jpg 38.45 KBAs always, the range for placement forecasts is the widest, as it is the most difficult to predict, and that degree of difficulty is amplified in the current market. Notably, placements typically increase during the fall run starting in September and through October, especially in the north when cattle come off summer grass. In the south many cattle typically find their way onto pastures after weaning before being pl...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
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.