Bitter Problem The U.S. sugar program is an protectionist abomination emanating from a political deal in the 1981 farm bill. Unlike other crops that are subsidized directly by the government, sugar erects restrictive import quotas and then forces American consumers to pay 2-3 times the world price. It is justified on the basis that Europe and other countries subsidize their own sugar production, though that argument has weakened over the years. Opponents of U.S. sugar policy have fought against it for decades, with zero progress to show. The latest knight to come along in pursuit of reform is Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire). She is not seeking its elimination but cites a report by the Government Accountability Office sugges...
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) enters its mandated six-year review on 1 July. The original intent of the review is outlined in Article 34.7, which obligates members to: Provide recommendations and decide on appropriate actions. Extend the USMCA for another 16 years and meet aga...
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...
Key Takeaways: Drought remains a major threat to global agricultural production, particularly in regions with limited rainfall and growing water scarcity. Commercially available drought-tolerant traits in corn, soybeans, and wheat have generally delivered modest yield improvements, limiting th...
From WPI Consulting
Communicating importance of value-added products
Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.