Biden Trade Policy Some of Washington’s top trade policy wonks opined last week on what they think should be the policy approach of President-Elect Joe Biden. Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics yearns for trade policy to return to low visibility. He conceded that in the past, the adjustment costs to free trade were largely ignored, whereas under Trump that erroneously became the sole focus. Dartmouth University economist Doug Irwin characterized Trump trade policy as instinct and reactions that lacked an underlying and thoughtful strategy. He argues for a constructive approach that aligns objectives with the proper policy instruments. Claude Barfield of the American Enterprise Institute notes the c...
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
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.