World Perspectives
livestock

Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report

USDA released its quarterly Hogs and Pigs report today. The inventory of all hogs and pigs on 1 December was 75.5 million head, up 1 percent from December 2024, and up slightly from 1 September 2025.  Breeding inventory, at 5.95 million head, was down 1 percent from last year and up slightly from September. Market hog inventory, at 69.6 million head was up 1 percent from last year and up slightly from September. The September to November pig crop, at 34.34.99 million head, was even with last year. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 2.93 million head, also even with last year. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 49 percent of the breeding herd.  The total number of hogs under contract, owned by operations wit...

Related Articles
feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: The Tempo not the Quantum

Everyone knows the volume traded this week will be lower, but there is no break in the directional adjustments. The corn market still had to continue its march higher, worries about wheat supplies moving out of Ukraine and even volume was not totally lower with soymeal and lean hog trading keep...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.475/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.17/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.515/bushel, down $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $304.2/short ton, up $2.3 from...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins deteriorated further last week, extending their move into negative territory after early December’s strong profits. Margins fell another $65/head to –$140 as fed cattle prices held firm while the Choice cutout slipped nearly $2/cwt. The tightening spread reflects...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: The Tempo not the Quantum

Everyone knows the volume traded this week will be lower, but there is no break in the directional adjustments. The corn market still had to continue its march higher, worries about wheat supplies moving out of Ukraine and even volume was not totally lower with soymeal and lean hog trading keep...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.475/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.17/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.515/bushel, down $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $304.2/short ton, up $2.3 from...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins deteriorated further last week, extending their move into negative territory after early December’s strong profits. Margins fell another $65/head to –$140 as fed cattle prices held firm while the Choice cutout slipped nearly $2/cwt. The tightening spread reflects...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: CBOT Bounces on Short-Covering and Positive Export Data

The CBOT turned higher on Monday with positive export data from USDA and a healthy dose of bottom-picking and pre-holiday short covering driving the upside action. Corn was the upside leader for the day as export shipments remain strong with foreign buyers and end-users picking up the purchase...

Image
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.

Search World Perspectives

Sign In to World Perspectives

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up