Yesterday’s discussion about impeachment raised the question about its impact on the ability of Congress to simultaneously accomplish other legislative objectives. The average over the past quarter century is for 4 percent of the bills introduced into a Congress to ultimately be enacted into law. However, the success rate has been declining (see graph below). There could be several reasons for this decline: • More divisive politics; • Increased use of omnibus vehicles that package together many smaller bills; • Increased use of regulations in lieu of more Congressional acts; and • Simply running out of new things to legislate. It is somewhat unfair to say since it can take two years to move a bill through the...
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.