Brazilian Farmers Squeezed by Higher Truck Freight Rates Farmers in Brazil’s Cerrados region have long been burdened by the high cost of shipping their soybeans to ports, mostly on trucks. However, they ae now being squeezed by new mandatory and much higher truck freight rates, which the government implemented to settle a trucker strike that almost shut down the country in June. This week the agency that sets the truck rates (ANTT) increased them by an average 5 percent after Petrobras, the state-owned petroleum company, raised the price of diesel fuel by 13 percent. The agency is required to boost the truck rates when fuel prices rise. Farm organizations claim these new rates have hiked the costs of shipping soybeans and other cro...
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.