There has been some underlying positive economic news starting to emerge from the August data, though given the unprecedented nature of the economic disruption since February 2020, it is a bit of a mixed bag. The private Institute for Supply Management (ISM) survey for manufacturing activity for August showed the 27th consecutive month of growth – which, by the way dates to June 2020 after the major impact of COVID. The August index was 52.8 percent, the same reading as recorded in July. While the index was up, it was only slightly higher than June 2020 at 52.4 percent and the second lowest since June 2020. But it is up. The jobs payrolls rose 315,000 in August, which narrowly beat consensus expectations. However, downwa...
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...
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.