USDA has targeted select foreign markets for increased attention this year, including sending trade missions to solicit sales. The success to date has been mixed. In part this is due to head winds such as the high value of the dollar and slower economic growth in countries impacted by the trade war. North America continues to perform positively, whereas Asian markets reflect some of the previously mentioned hurdles. Ghana is such a small market currently that the change means little in the total picture of U.S. agricultural exports. The combination of slower global economic growth and the imposition of retaliatory duties against U.S. food exports are the two largest factors stalling the sector’s ability to build trade demand...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
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.