Yesterday, WPI reported on the forecast for dairy for 2022., noting that this month’s WASDE raised the all-milk price forecast for 2022 to a record high at $25.80/cwt, based on the increase in all dairy product prices except whey. However, we also noted that feed prices have increased more than milk prices, squeezing producer margins. Given the COVID era’s impact on supply chain, labor and other processing costs, processor margin are also squeezed. In 2021, USDA commissioned a study on the production costs for processing dairy production, conducted at the University of Wisconsin. The paper, which was completed in December of 2021, was released in February of this year. The estimated cost of production increased in 3...
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.