Beef packer margins are on a one-way trip to a very unpleasant place and despite a brief rebound last week, remain absolutely dismal. Packer margins improved $66/head last week thanks to a massive surge in beef values and modest fed cattle gains, but profits were still horrid at -$237/head, whi...
Soyoil remained the star of the CBOT on Monday and locked limit-up for the second day following the surprisingly bullish EPA RVO mandates released Friday. That carried soybeans and ICE canola futures higher – along with other vegoil markets – for the day, but soybean and soyoil were...
On Friday, the EPA announced a proposed rule to establish required Renewable Fuel Standard volumes obligations, known as the required volume obligations (RVOs) and the percentage standards for 2026 and 2027. The announcement also partially waived the 2025 cellulosic biofuel volume requirement a...
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.