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: The U.S. weather forecast has shifted to favor more beneficial conditions for finishing the corn and soybean crops, which is removing some weather risk premium from futures. Traders are looking ahead to Friday’s September WASDE, which will offer major insight...
Key Takeaways: Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling would provide consumers with more consistent information about where their beef originates, but evidence from the previous COOL rule found little indication that labeling increased overall consumer demand for beef. The primary potential benef...
The California General Assembly has passed a bill aimed at increasing transparency related to ultra-processed foods. California Governor Gavin Newsom has until 30 September to take action on the bill, though it will most likely be signed into law. Late last year, California became the first sta...
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.