McDonalds has entered the sustainability space by partnering with Syngenta and paying cattle producers to use Syngenta’s Enogen Trait corn to improve feed efficiency. Enogen corn contains an enzyme, alpha amylase. This enzyme has been added during the ethanol production process to induce starch breakdown. The enzyme makes the breakdown of starch to sugars more efficient. The process was developed in the early 2000. It is kept out of the food stream, though it is approved for food use.Enogen has been marketed for silage production since the mid-2010s in the U.S. and introduced in Canada in 2023 and will be expanded in 2025. Enogen corn feed is about five percent more efficient for backgrounders, stockers, and feeders, than corn without the t...
It is hard to have a productive conversation about agricultural pesticide use. The subject carries so much ideological baggage that raising it can invite an argument—or bring the conversation to an uncomfortable silence. Glyphosate, the active ingredient most closely associated with the R...
What You Need to Know Today: Wheat futures pulled back sharply after Russian President Putin said there was a “chance” for peace and an agreement to end the war in Ukraine. There is plenty of skepticism about the opportunity for peace in Ukraine, but that didn’t stop wheat fr...
President Trump has opened the door to 100,000 MT of beef lean trimmings (limited to HTS codes 0201.30.5091, 0201.30.5097, 0202.30.5091, and 0202.30.5097) from countries listed under the “Other Countries” TRQ effective 1 September. These imports would not be subject to the over-quot...
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.