The president’s budget and the HPAI situation both have good news and bad news for the industry. Budget to Trim Statistical Capabilities of USDA The White House released a partial FY 2018 budget plan today with the entire version to be unveiled “sequentially,” according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This initial blueprint contains only discretionary funding proposals. The full budget will be released later this spring, which will include specific proposals on taxes and mandatory spending. Discretionary spending is appropriated annually by Congress, and mandatory spending is authorized long term by specific statutes such as the farm bill. Farm program payments are mandatory spending, and programs like food aid fall under di...
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
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.