As WPI covered on 29 July, after many months of negotiating with Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) came to an agreement for a much scaled down version of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan that Manchin and Senator Krysten Sinema (D-Arizona) scuttled in 2021. After several days of consultation with Sinema, she came on board too. The bill is known as the Inflation Reduction Act. To gain her support, Schumer had to take out the provision to eliminate the carried interest provision, which taxes private equity and venture capital income at 15 percent rather than a higher applicable income tax rate. She also got some changes to the 15 percent book profit corporate minimum tax, an...
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...
Monday, 25 May is a U.S. holiday, and both the markets and our office will be closed. Please note that the next issue of Ag Perspectives will be published on Tuesday, 26 May. The WPI staff wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend...
USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report was released today. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity amounted to 11.6 million head, 102 percent of last year. Source: USDA, WPI Placements were up, but part of that is attributable to persistent drought c...
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.