The six-year run of high commodity prices coupled with generally good yields and record net farm income have also allowed all of the ancillary industries to operate with very wide margins. However, that is likely to change with the current low prices. The six-year run of high commodity prices coupled with generally good yields and record net farm income has also been very good for those in the business of handling these crops and selling crop inputs like seed, fertilizer and chemicals. In fact, margins and profits in these related industries have also been extremely strong. High farm prices have allowed all of the ancillary industries to operate with very wide margins. Interior elevations (margins) rose to levels rarely heard of, such as $0...
What You Need to Know Today: Oil prices surged today following reports of tanker attacks off the coast of Saudi Arabia by Houthi rebels and renewed U.S. threats to escalate military strikes against Iran, heightening concerns over potential disruptions to Middle East energy supplies. Brent crud...
Key Takeaways: The latest UN data shows solid progress reducing global hunger and food insecurity. The geography of hunger-affected people has shifted substantially, however, and Africa is now the most affected region. To understand why hunger patterns have shifted and what policy option...
USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report for 1 July will be released tomorrow. Analysts’ pre-report consensus estimates are for the total inventory on feed to be 102.2 percent of last year. Those estimates imply an on-feed inventory of 11.327 million head. If accurate, that would be the...
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.