World Perspectives

Trade War Fractures

Today was National Agriculture Trade Day, an effort to boost awareness about the benefits of trade to the sector. However, the milestone also sparked debate about the increasing U.S. agricultural trade deficit, and the advisability of the Trump tariff war.  President Trump’s goal is said to be a more fair and equitable trading system for the U.S. The status quo is described as unfair and unsustainable. Implicit in that assessment is a criticism of past policies that placed the U.S. in the position of running huge trade deficits. But it is sectors like agriculture that are being hurt in the interim by efforts to rectify the situation.  There is still great uncertainty about how the war is being conducted, its true aims, and w...

Related Articles
feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Pushing Toward New Lows on Bearish Supplies

There was higher volume today trading corn and hogs, and lower volume in the soy complex and SRW.  New contract lows were printed for corn, SRW, and HRW.  Yesterday’s crop progress report reflected potentially stellar crops and yield estimates from private analysts continue to p...

Infuriating Ingratiation; Soul Crushing Jobs

Infuriating Ingratiation Based on European press reports, the terms of the transatlantic trade deal (see Tariffs as a Tax) are less objectionable than the “humiliation” of “submission” to the U.S. But that is just Europe being its usual “bantie rooster.” ...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.02/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Sep 25 Wheat closed at $5.0825/bushel, down $0.085 from yesterday's close.  Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $9.9075/bushel, down $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $284.9/short ton, down $0.1...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Pushing Toward New Lows on Bearish Supplies

There was higher volume today trading corn and hogs, and lower volume in the soy complex and SRW.  New contract lows were printed for corn, SRW, and HRW.  Yesterday’s crop progress report reflected potentially stellar crops and yield estimates from private analysts continue to p...

Infuriating Ingratiation; Soul Crushing Jobs

Infuriating Ingratiation Based on European press reports, the terms of the transatlantic trade deal (see Tariffs as a Tax) are less objectionable than the “humiliation” of “submission” to the U.S. But that is just Europe being its usual “bantie rooster.” ...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.02/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Sep 25 Wheat closed at $5.0825/bushel, down $0.085 from yesterday's close.  Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $9.9075/bushel, down $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $284.9/short ton, down $0.1...

Snacking Turmoil

There are a lot of issues working against the snack world right now from tariffs to cocoa and sugar prices, to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) ban on dyes and artificial colors.  Let’s take a look. First, there is the ongoing volatility of cocoa prices. Prices have been in an a...

Image
From WPI Consulting

Illuminating the value of technical research

On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.

Search World Perspectives

Sign In to World Perspectives

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up