The House and Senate are returning from their two-week Easter recess period with a busy agenda ahead. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown has now hit the two-month mark, a plan is emerging to use reconciliation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as well as the rest of DHS through a bipartisan funding bill. Senate Republicans will need to move quickly to put forward a FY2027 budget resolution as the first step of the reconciliation process. Another top legislative priority for Republican leadership will be reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires next week. Meanwhile, members of the House Agriculture Committe...
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.
What You Need to Know Today: Agricultural commodities were mostly lower on the day, with red-hot soyoil a notable exception. Export sales were a bit underwhelming, particularly for corn with export sales down 52 percent week-over-week. The weakness in ag markets tracked crude oil weakness wit...
With the war in Iran affecting fuel and fertilizer prices, higher tariffs, weak commodity prices, ag labor constraints, and other factors, farm bankruptcies are now at a 6-year high, a signal of growing stress. During the month of April, 62 Chapter 12 bankruptcies were filed, which is a 1...
Food Inflation The Open Markets Institute, which is notably funded by several “anonymous” donors and liberal foundations, obtained a guest editorial in the New York Times in which they blame agribusiness concentration for higher grocery prices. This is their schtick and it is politi...