Alignments Against Phase One The markets reacted today to negative news about the state of the U.S. – China trade war. Craig Allen, President of U.S.-China Business Council said he is pessimistic, suggesting that Xi Jinping does not trust Donald Trump and any phase one agreement will be both marginal in substance and temporary. Complicating the situation are developments surrounding Hong Kong, with Beijing threatening to retaliate for U.S. Senate legislation censoring Beijing, and now young people in Taiwan reacting by giving more support for the independence of Formosa. A top U.S. negotiator said today that they are neither optimistic nor pessimistic since they don’t know where the situation is going to wind up. Meanwh...
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.