If not explicitly welcomed by Congress, EPA's proposal was met with quite a sigh of relief as it cleared a contentious issue from the must-do legislative list in 2014.The comment period on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed required volume obligations (RVO) under the renewable fuel standard (RFS) does not end until 28 January, two weeks from tomorrow. However, EPA has received 12,333 comments as of this morning that it must review and address before it can finalize any RVO rule. As clients will recall, EPA reduced the amount of advanced biofuels under the rule as well as the overall level of biofuels that will impact corn ethanol. Except for biodiesel, the proposed levels (see table below) are all lower than the statutory...
What You Need to Know Today: The corn and soybean markets closed slightly higher in low-volume trade. The wheat market was mixed, with HRW continuing its downward trek on improved moisture. As expected, the bearish cattle on feed report drove down cattle prices and pulled hogs down with it. Mi...
Key Market Insights Macro markets delivered a full whipsaw today. Early in the session, crude oil had rallied back above $100/barrel as traders priced renewed concern over the U.S.-Iran standoff and potential supply risk through the Strait of Hormuz. That strength helped pull grains off their o...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.