Smithfield, the largest pork processing plant in the U.S., announced that it has decided to run its Tar Heel, NC facility only four days a week and suggested it may also reduce production at its Clinton, NC plant due to the impact of PEDv. PEDv Udate The porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) is spreading. According to the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, there were 300 new cases last week, bringing the total to 4,757. A case can range from a single pig to an entire herd at one site. The virus was first discovered in May 2013, and there have been an estimated 4-5 million pigs lost to it since then, roughly 4 percent of the annual slaughter. Rabobank reports that about 60 percent of the U.S. herd and 28 percent of the Mexican her...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Unlike the 2022 fertilizer shock, today’s disruption is rooted less in rerouted trade flows and more in damaged production capacity, raw material constraints and uncertain recovery timelines. That makes this a longer-duration risk for U.S. agricultural producers and retailers who must sec...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.