As Gary Blumenthal reported yesterday, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a confirmation hearing on the nomination of Brooke Rollins to be Secretary of USDA. As Gary noted, she “rolled” through the hearings “poised, confident, charming” and had done the groundwork as she pointed out in her opening statement noting that she had already met with every member of the Committee. The following is more about what she said, where she’s coming from, and where she expects to guide USDA. Rollins gave an opening statement about her background, her perspective on agriculture, and her previous roles. Those included being a policy staffer in the office of former Texas Governor Rick Perry, serving at the Texas P...
What You Need to Know Today: This time of year, grain markets are often just one weather forecast away from a sharp rally, and today's hotter, drier outlook provided the catalyst for significant gains in corn and soybean futures. Livestock markets were relatively quiet by comparison, with most...
The final reading for real GDP growth in Q1 was revised upward to a 2.1 percent rate from a prior estimate of 1.6 percent, but the underlying details show a weaker mix. The stronger headline reflected a large upward revision to net exports, along with smaller upward adjustments to inventories a...
From WPI Consulting
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.