U.S. Talk Representative The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) that grants duty free access to products from poorer countries expired almost four years ago. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provides similar nonreciprocal preferential access to the U.S. market but aimed at Sub-Saharan Africa is scheduled to expire in September 2025. There are efforts on Capitol Hill to renew GSP and extend AGOA for another 16-20 years. Those trading under both programs worry about having too many criteria for eligibility and setting the bar on rules of origin too high. However, one complaint is that the Biden Administration is not engaged in either issue. One industry representative suggested that someone needs to put Trade instead...
Weather concerns and the impacts of the war in Iran helped push wheat and corn to sharp gains Tuesday, with both markets blowing past key technical resistance levels. The weather is now coupled with geopolitical tensions that look increasingly hard to resolve, which is giving funds the perfect...
Congress is moving forward with its FY 2027 spending bills, while also still working to address FY 2026 funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which is still in a shutdown. The House Agriculture-FDA Appropriations Subcommittee marked up and passed its FY 2027 bill. The House bill prov...
The overarching concern for China is that the rising cost of energy will reduce global trade demand at the same time that countries are becoming more protectionist. Trump Visit to China President Trump’s visit to China is in just over two weeks, though some question whether the trip...
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.