China Conducts Soil Pollution Survey On 13 June, China's Ministry of Land and Resources announced that the government plans to conduct a nationwide survey on soil pollution. Soil samples will be collected at multiple depths in order to determine the condition of the soil and the impact of human activity. Even though there is not yet a precise date for the release of the survey results, this marks one of the first times that the government has made such an announcement. Previously news about soil pollution has been strictly censored as a topic for the national media, and it has been seen as available only for internal discussion by specialists and closed-door decision making by government officials. A recent food safety scandal of cadmium...
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...
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.