Anti-Meat Campaign The number of media articles against consuming meat and poultry is beginning to spike. They cover the range of arguments served up by vegetarian campaigners – bad for the environment, bad for human health, unethical, etc. There are of course counter-arguments but there is no fair and balanced in the American media today. It is unclear how much impact this campaign will have on attitudes and actual meat consumption. While Venezuela, Russia, and China skew media messaging to the government’s position, the media itself performs the censorship in the U.S., with contrarian messengers kicked off Facebook and Twitter. There is unlikely to be an attack on meat from the White House. The progressive left has bee...
What You Need to Know Today: The cattle market rebounded sharply this week, with January feeder cattle futures gaining $16.98/cwt and February live cattle futures advancing $7.60/cwt since last Friday. Tyson Foods' plans to restore a second processing shift at its Amarillo, Texas, facili...
Tuesday’s CPI report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed inflation roaring back stronger than expected in October. That probably locks in another rate hike – which was expected anyway – at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in December. Consumer pric...
Key Takeaways: The rationale for farm programs has changed significantly from their original intentions. Farmers’ incomes have grown sharply and have surpassed non-farm incomes beginning in the 1970s. Current farm programs are complex and focus on supporting risk management, environmenta...
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.