USDA Should Mimic FDA As noted in Ag Perspectives on 10 August 2018 (see Attacking Fake Food Claims), former FDA official and now Stanford University professor Henry Miller chastised his former agency for failing to enforce its prohibition of untruthful and misleading food labels. His examples included organic food being promoted as grown without toxic or persistent pesticides as well as food labeled as non-GMO when there is no GMO equivalent. His charge prompted FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to commit to an investigation of the problem. Now former USDA food safety official Dr. Richard Raymond has basically said that the market-correcting actions being taken by the FDA should also be performed by USDA in food categories under its jurisd...
What You Need to Know Today: USDA reports are delayed until Tuesday due to the federal holiday on Monday. Over the weekend, President Trump announced a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Russia warmly welcomed and confirmed this ceasefire by conducting more strikes against Ukraine. Specific...
On Saturday, 10 October, at a campaign rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, President Trump said that the U.S. and Mexico would come to terms on a new trade deal, and he said Canada does not need to be part of the deal. Trump called the coming agreement with Mexico “great” but gave no d...
Key Takeaways: The United States has steadily lost global wheat export market share since the 1970s, falling from the world's leading exporter to a projected fifth place in 2026/27. The rapid expansion of Black Sea wheat exports, driven by improved productivity and export infrastructure, has r...
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.