USDA’s highly anticipated June Acreage estimates and quarterly Grain Stocks reports did not fail to live up to their hype and brought several significant surprises on Friday. This article will detail the reports and their implications in the next paragraphs, but in summary, corn planted acres were well above expectations while soybean acres headed the opposite way and soybeans stocks earlier this month were surprisingly low. The reports sent corn futures sharply lower as the post-weather-rally selloff deepened amid a much larger supply outlook. Weaker corn pulled wheat lower too while the soy complex saw large gains on a demand-rationing move higher. Funds were noted sellers in the grain markets and were equally aggressive buyers in t...
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
The big news in the cattle markets yesterday was Tyson Foods’ move to close two more beef plants. One of them, the Joslin, Illinois, plant was shuttered immediately after the announcement. The other, in Eagle Mountain, Utah, is a case-ready plant that does not slaughter cattle. Tyson also...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.