China’s enormous influence on the pork market is now greater than ever as USDA is projecting that the country will account for more than 25 percent of global pork trade in 2017. Now it is a force for increases in another category of exports. USDA Buying More Cheese While in Wisconsin (a battleground state in the presidential election) on Tuesday, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the department intends to buy $20 million worth of cheddar cheese. The solicitation will be forthcoming from USDA. This follows a previous announcement in August (see Ag Perspectives, 24 August) regarding USDA’s plan to spend $20 million on 11 million pounds. The goal of both announcements was to prop up dairy prices and divert the purchased cheese to fee...
What You Need to Know Today: The U.S. conducted “self-defense strikes” in Iran and said the two sides are “close” to negotiating a ceasefire. “Close” is a relative term, however, and even if 95 percent of the terms are agreed to, the remaining 5 percent is l...
As we reported on 19 May, China has also committed to the resumption of U.S. poultry imports from states without confirmed HPAI detections. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has updated its China export restrictions webpage to reflect that China has lifted HPAI-rel...
Key Takeaways: Brazil has been the second-largest producer of fuel ethanol globally, but almost all of it was derived from sugarcane until recently. Corn ethanol production has increased due to expanded second-crop corn production, sugarcane storage limitations, and biofuel policy. Brazil is e...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.