China is starting to repopulate its swine herd, flying in, via charter planes, live breeding animals from the EU. According to reports, more than 4,000 head were air-chartered into China from France in March, and at least two loads from Denmark. Many more are coming. What is unknown is how many will come from the U.S. Of course, China is committed to its Phase One trade deal purchase targets with the U.S. but has not made any purchases of U.S. breeding animals. China is shopping in Europe instead. In addition to the shipments from France and Denmark, a load of boars from the Netherlands has also been sent in the past month and China has recently approved import permits for the U.K. There have been no shipments from the U.S. (or Canada) sin...
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.