World Perspectives

Weather Wins; Federalism

For historical reasons, delineating federalism - the role and powers of states versus the national government in the U.S. - can be confusing, and there are several current examples. Policy versus Mother Nature The Financial Times reports that North Korea has halved the amount of rations available to citizens to less than 1,000 calories per day. Following years of starvation-level agricultural production, Pyongyang initiated market reforms that were substantive and credible. This included allowing:

small groups of families to produce crops for their own use expansion of so-called kitchen gardens from 100 to 3,300 square meters use of the same land for years retention of up to 70 percent of what they produce with just 30 percent given...

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U.S. grain transportation markets are slowly recovering from the shocks of bitter cold weather and low water levels on the Mississippi River System and from the surge in export demand. The latter is also causing strong rallies in ocean freight markets, particularly in the Atlantic basin. With g...

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livestock

Livestock Round Up: Cattle Margins and Distribution

The recent February World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report forecast beef production to increase in 2026 due to greater slaughter of steers and heifers, increased cow slaughter, and heavier dressed weights, all of which will provide some relief to the beef market. Also, th...

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From WPI Consulting

Infrastructure investment due diligence

On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.

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