As we have predicted many times, we foresee a debate on the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) in 2013. The lack of cellulosic ethanol production is putting too much pressure on the overall RFS and the Advanced Fuels category to continue under the status quo of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which waives the cellulosic mandate and maintains the overall Advanced Fuel mandate under which the cellulosic requirement is nested -- especially with the statutory cellulosic requirement increasing to 1 billion gallons in 2013. Before things get to the point at which a reform package will be debated, however, starting this year there will be a lot of proposals and options put forth. We thought it would be worth taking a look at some of those...
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...
Key Market Insights Geopolitical Limbo: Geopolitical risk remained a key driver across global commodity markets today. President Trump stated that the Iran memorandum of understanding is not yet final and warned that military action could resume if negotiations fail. Both sides continue w...
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.