Economists and analysts of all kinds like to talk about the interconnected globalization of the world economy. Those of us who focus primarily on markets are well aware that commodity markets no longer have national borders, and that futures markets for soybeans, crude oil, corn, copper or gold located in the U.S., London or wherever have truly become world markets.We know this intellectually, but when we are in the midst of a crucial U.S. growing season for spring planted crops, and weather issues are a concern, we do tend to narrow our focus to what is happening here and we pay less attention to the rest of the world. This is certainly understandable, and it is not necessarily a bad thing. U.S. crops do have a major impact on world supp...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.