World Perspectives
softs

Volatility in Pistachios

The U.S. first displaced Iran as the world’s leading producer of pistachios in 2012 and for the past four years it has not even been a contest. Iran’s downfall was in part U.S. trade sanctions, but also its failure to manage water resources and disease problems properly. While the pistachio tree is largely a desert plant, water problems may yet befall the U.S. industry, which is largely based in California. However, another noticeable problem for pistachio production generally is volatile income from year to year since it is a biennial-bearing crop. Turkey has been expanding pistachio production relatively quickly and has surpassed Iran in output in recent years based on an alternating production cycle. Based on FAO data, produ...

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Livestock Roundup: Dairy Herd

The U.S. dairy herd in 2025 expanded at the fastest pace since the 1950s and reached a level that has not occurred since the early 1990s. Based on the USDA monthly milk production report for December, the milk cow herd totaled 9.567 million head, up from the prior month and 212,000 head from a...

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Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for January 23-29, 2026 Wheat: Net sales of 373,900 metric tons (MT) for 2025/2026 were down 33 percent from the previous week, but up 3 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 403,800 MT were up 7 percent from the previous week and 32 percent from...

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Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins weakened further, with estimated net losses widening to -$233/head. While boxed beef values continued to firm, gains were outpaced by higher fed cattle prices, pressuring gross margins despite stable carcass weights and drop values. Packer profitability remains well below se...

livestock

Livestock Roundup: Dairy Herd

The U.S. dairy herd in 2025 expanded at the fastest pace since the 1950s and reached a level that has not occurred since the early 1990s. Based on the USDA monthly milk production report for December, the milk cow herd totaled 9.567 million head, up from the prior month and 212,000 head from a...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for January 23-29, 2026 Wheat: Net sales of 373,900 metric tons (MT) for 2025/2026 were down 33 percent from the previous week, but up 3 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 403,800 MT were up 7 percent from the previous week and 32 percent from...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins weakened further, with estimated net losses widening to -$233/head. While boxed beef values continued to firm, gains were outpaced by higher fed cattle prices, pressuring gross margins despite stable carcass weights and drop values. Packer profitability remains well below se...

Herrington Becomes President of World Perspectives, Inc.

Washington, DC—World Perspectives, Inc. (WPI) is a leading agricultural market analysis and consulting firm making a leadership transition marking an important milestone in the firm’s development. After years of distinguished service as President & CEO, Gary Blumenthal has stepp...

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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.

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