Source:  Lisa M .Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 4/6/11

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has launched a reference site to help processors and other market participants better understand and make use of livestock, meat and grain reports, the agency said in a release.

Featuring a glossary, tutorials and report overviews, the site can be found by clicking on the “Reference Room” link on the Market News Portal website. 

• The Glossary defines commonly used terminology used in Livestock and Grain Market News reports.
• The Tutorial section has narrated, step-by-step instructional videos that walk users through the website’s most popular interactive features. For example, users who want to learn how to receive market news reports by email can play a short video that quickly shows each step in the process. Users can also watch these how-to videos on navigating the Market News Portal and searching for historical data, navigating a Market News Dashboard, subscribing to RSS feeds, and related actions.
• The Report Overviews section has information on how to read some of the most frequently accessed reports, such as boxed beef and the pork carcass cutout. Each document outlines key features of the reports, how values are derived, and what the data are frequently used for.

Market news information sheds light on price and supply information, and encourages competition in the marketplace for livestock, meat, grain, feedstuffs, hay, bioenergy and related agricultural products, the agency pointed out. Its creation also furthers goals outlined in the 2008 Farm Bill, which directed USDA to provide educational material regarding its market news program.

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