Policy Conflicts and Solutions Policymakers are realizing that the three big issues of climate change, sustainability and food security are conflicting. The Cairns Group is comprised of highly competitive agricultural exporting countries and so their frustration with the conflicts at the WTO is understandable. They want expanded market access and are proposing a plurilateral approach on agriculture to bypass the large number of protectionist members of the WTO. They have proposed three possible solutions:
a critical mass plurilateral agreement in agriculture; sectoral agreements that bring into play both market access and domestic support; and a comprehensive new global compact on subsidies, including agriculture, industri...
What You Need to Know: U.S. fertilizer production is highly concentrated, but concentration alone does not establish that producers are operating as a cartel. Imports introduce competition unevenly: they supply nearly all U.S. potash consumption but play much smaller roles in domestic ammonia...
Key Takeaways: Managed money is holding more than one million net-long contracts across agricultural markets, with corn, soybeans, and soymeal all reaching record net-long positions in September. Fundamental concerns surrounding yields, supplies, and global availability have helped justify the...
What You Need to Know: H-2A has become a principal agricultural labor channel: certifications increased from fewer than 117,000 in 2014 to 398,258 in 2025 and continued to rise in 2026. The proposed Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act (SAWA) would open H-2A to year-round operations and...
Key Takeaways: USDA data access is equal; the ability to use it is not. Larger operations can afford experts who turn public reports into business decisions. Analytical capacity is the true advantage. Forecasts matter only when converted into profit, purchasing, and risk-management decisions...
