Bilateral Postponed A planned consultation between China and the U.S. scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed, reportedly due to a scheduling conflict. The discussion was supposed to focus on the six-month status of the Phase One agreement, which has thus far failed to impress its American critics. On the one hand, it is a perfunctory meeting and could get outcompeted for time by other events. China has stepped up its purchasing and that also buys some time to focus on other matters. On the upside, some in the trade feared the planned discussion could raise tensions and so it at least kicks that possibility down the road. Seasonal Politics Yesterday’s virtual hearing between Trump Administration trade officials and U.S. fru...
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.
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...