Channeling HamiltonAlexander Hamilton, the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, encouraged the Tariff Act of 1789, the Tariff Act of 1790, and the Tariff Act of 1792. He used tariffs to fund the government and protect domestic industries from British exports. President-elect Trump has pledged large tariffs on China and more recently said he would impose more tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico until they stop sending fentanyl and migrants to the U.S. Current Treasury nominee Scott Bessent has a 3-3-3 policy: bring U.S. deficits down to 3 percent of GDP (currently 6.3 percent), lift economic growth to 3 percent (from 2.5 percent in 2023), and increase oil production by 3 million barrels/day. He has characterized the threat of tariffs...
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.
Every June combines begin their annual sweep across the winter wheat fields of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. At the same time, USDA releases its Acreage and Crop Progress reports, providing the first comprehensive look at the size and condition of the crop. Most years the reports simply confirm...
Weather remains the dominant driver of grain markets this time of year, but this week's trade has been a reminder that futures markets are constantly looking ahead. Corn and soybean prices don't simply react to today's weather — they respond to where traders believe production risks will...
As we wrote in last week’s Livestock Round Up, the Administration has announced the Strengthening Processing for U.S. Ranchers (SPUR) program that will provide up to $500 million in payments for small- and medium-sized processors to buy cattle. The Big 4 packers are ineligible, which has...