President Mauricio Macri began his efforts to encourage innovation in agriculture, increase exports and boost rural economies upon assuming office in December 2015. The resulting new demand for inputs is already impacting the country’s natural gas sector.In Washington, the House Ways and Means Committee is crafting a tax reform bill along the lines of the so-called border adjustable tax that is intended to promote U.S. exports. This puts the U.S. one step behind Argentina, at least for agricultural exports. On 2 January 2016, that country implemented an increase in existing export rebates and established new ones for various agricultural commodities and products. The indirect incentive for this export tax rebate scheme is to promote m...
Beef packer margins improved to -$130/head last week, up $44 from the prior week as sharply lower fed cattle prices more than offset continued seasonal weakness in the Choice cutout. The cutout declined to $373/cwt while fed cattle prices fell to $238/cwt, allowing packer spreads to recover for...
What You Need to Know Today: The conflict between the U.S. and Iran continues to escalate with the two sides exchanging attacks over the weekend. President Trump said Iran “will pay” for recent attacks that claimed the lives of U.S. troops stationed in Jordan. There are some signs...
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.