Dairy producers are entering a new era with milk exports at about twice their traditional level and about 50 percent greater than recent highs. This trend coincides with a new dairy insurance program in the 2014 Farm Bill, margin insurance. Milk Production, Exports and Margin Insurance The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) report released yesterday shows that compared with the same month a year ago, February 2014 milk production was up 1.4 percent, production per cow (in the top 23 states) increased 21 pounds and there were 13,000 more head of dairy cattle. Yet, prices are still increasing. What is going on? First, beef prices remain at record highs and there were 1,000 fewer dairy cows than in February 2013, although cow nu...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
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.