The monthly data shows that there has been a dramatic shift toward restaurant spending in the last 10 months, and there are two major contributing factors to this change.According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), restaurant sales in December 2014 surpassed grocery stores' monthly sales for the first time on record. Preliminary data had indicated this historic sales re-balancing, but it was officially confirmed last week by the U.S. Census Bureau's revised Estimates of Monthly Retail and Food Services Sales by Kind of Business report. The monthly data shows that there has been a dramatic shift toward restaurant spending in the last 10 months. Grocery store sales still exceeded restaurant sales by $1.6 billion in June 2014, but t...
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
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.