Siloed Everywhere International trade has become moral, geopolitical, and nationalistic, and so has local commerce. Global trade is now based on perceived and relative practices such as human rights, animal welfare, labor, environmental protection, etc. Don’t trade with autocrat regimes like China or Russia. There is Make in India, Buy America, food sovereignty, etc. This has crept down to state and local affairs. California dictates how hogs are produced in Iowa and bans state-funded travel to Texas. Fights over abortion, immigration and other issues pour over red versus blue states, and between cities and rural areas. All of it worsening economic outcomes but unlikely to go away anytime soon. Separately, EU plans to punish a...
What You Need to Know Today: Cattle futures crashed on social media rumors that ICE raided one or possibly three fed cattle packing plants in Kansas Monday night or Tuesday morning. Operations at one plant have been disrupted and production curtailed. Outcomes for shipping via the Strait of Ho...
Key Takeaways: The expansion of biofuel-driven soybean crushing was expected to increase soymeal supplies and pressure prices as soyoil became a larger driver of crush economics, but soymeal has instead retained considerable value. Strong domestic and global feed demand has helped absorb addit...
Beef packer margins improved to $176/head last week, up $19 from the prior week as the Choice cutout edged higher while fed cattle prices eased. The cutout rose to $376/cwt while fed cattle slipped to $222/cwt, modestly widening packer profits. Margins remain well above year-ago levels despite...
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.