The Office of Management Budget reported yesterday that its review of the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) trade mitigation payments is finished. However, USDA has not yet announced the payment rates. What is known is that the rates will be based on a county average of previous years’ plantings, although the period has also not yet been announced. The program is broader than in 2018 when it covered corn, soybeans, sorghum, cotton, hogs, dairy, almonds and cherries. Payments to those commodities penciled out to slightly more than $1 billion. The 2019 MFP expands coverage to cranberries and grapes in addition to the remaining program crops (such as oats, barley and minor oilseeds) as well as peanuts, rice, peas, lentils, rice and alfa...
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.