The Senate passed, by a vote of 65-35, a temporary funding bill to keep the government from shutting down at midnight tonight, the last day of the fiscal year. The House of Representatives is expected to approve the bill this evening. This keeps the government open, and specifically, keeps various AMS reports published, as well as extends the Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) for which the statutory authorization expires today. Congress will still have to address the reauthorization at some point soon. The bill also includes an additional $10 billion for USDA to use “for necessary expenses related to losses” from drought. That fund, at the Secretary’s discretion, is to last until December 2023. More specifically t...
What You Need to Know Today: The hot, dry weather forecast continues to drive strength in grain futures with corn and soybeans hitting another day of strong gains. Monday’s Crop Progress and Conditions data were in line with market expectations and showed relatively few concerns for the...
Yesterday we wrote about the Q1 GDP numbers and the June employment reports in an article entitled Real GDP for Q1 Relying on AI Buildout, Held Back by Consumer Spending. That article mentioned that consumer spending had become a drag on GDP. Nonetheless, real GDP in Q1 was revised upward to 2...
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.