Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador imposed a 50 percent tariff on white corn imports largely coming from the U.S. The rationale being provided is that it is to protect the country’s historical and indigenous corn varieties. Eso es una tonteria. Mexicans eat white corn and the overwhelming variety that is being produced and eaten in Mexico are hybrids. So-called heirloom varieties comprise less than one percent of Mexico’s corn production. Notably, heirloom production is increasing but that is not due to Mexicans but increased exports to fulfill gowing demand in rich countries. Heirloom corn costs three times as much and is therefore not the source of the daily tortilla for most Mexicans. AMLO is playing...
What You Need to Know Today: There has already been a strong run of flash soybean sales announcements in recent weeks, but more than 1.4 MMT reported this morning is an exceptionally large single-day total with major implications for the market. If the sales to China and unknown destinations w...
On Friday, at 6:57 AM, President Donald Trump announced, via a social media post, a 90-day window during which up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef could be imported outside of tariff-rate quotas—a move aimed at bringing down costs for American consumers. This is the secon...
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.