The promised program to aid farmers hurt by the trade conflict with China and others will be $12 billion, according to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue at a press briefing this afternoon (see Trade Mitigation Funds for details). President Trump is scheduled to speak in Iowa tomorrow, and he will no doubt tout the program as helping farmers deal with the financial strains of lower crop prices. As an aside, there is no way of providing aid to producers hurt by Trump’s trade policies that can offset the resulting market distortions. The risk is that the way the aid program is structured will add to the distortions and thus widen the harm those policies cause. Overnight futures prices for wheat, corn and soybeans headed lower as the trade di...
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
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.