There’s still more information to digest among the details of Tuesday’s January Cattle Report (see WPI’s coverage here). Cattle on feed for 1 January for feedlots with 1,000 head-plus were down 3 percent per the monthly USDA report; this week’s semi-annual cattle inventory report estimates all cattle on feed on all size feed yards. Netting out the large feed yards, cattle being fed at smaller farmer/feeder operations were down about 7 percent compared to January 2022. Perhaps a combination of drought and high feed costs. The beef cow herd at 28.918 million head is down 4 percent from last year and hit its lowest since 1962 (28.691 million head) which is an attention grabber in and of itself, not to ment...
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.