Vilsack's Threat USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a clever, even if flawed threat by saying USDA would not be able to make full or continuing compensation payments to Brazil in the cotton case. The reasons he gave, which included sequestration and the expiration of the farm bill, do not entirely add up. After all, the payments are made via the CCC Charter Act, a permanent law written in 1933, that is so generous in the authority it grants the Secretary of Agriculture that nothing like it will ever be written again. Additionally, while sequestration was initially portrayed by the Obama Administration as completely inflexible in an effort to end it, the scaremongering failed and the government has subsequently found all kinds of ways to...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Key Takeaways: Argentina is on pace for a record corn crop and record exports in the current marketing year, with abundant supplies likely to keep the country highly competitive in global export markets. Argentina’s record exportable surplus is allowing it to offer highly competitive pri...
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.