The announcement of an HPAI outbreak in a flock of turkeys in Indiana raised fears amongst the U.S. poultry industry. Still fresh in mind is the outbreak during December 2014 to June 2015 that saw chicken meat exports plummet nearly 13 percent ($1.5 billion) and take years to recover. Now it has been found in a commercial broiler operation in Kentucky, and a backyard flock in Virginia. After quarantining the area, all animals are depopulated and the area sanitized. There have been subsequent outbreaks in January 2016 and March of 2017, but exports have suffered less as control has been more aggressive and the disease contained quickly. While it is the virulent H5N1 strain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the North...
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
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.