Disagree on the Disagreement From the U.S. perspective, its goals for a trade agreement with China have been clear all along, and it was Beijing that backtracked when it deleted nearly a third of the 150-page draft document. From the perspective of China, it is Washington that has been untrustworthy, and it added provisions that resulted in an “unequal treaty.” Since there is currently an imbalance of trade concessions in China’s favor, an effort to better balance them inherently means an unequal document. The larger concern is the slipping away of momentum. President Xi Jinping warns that the U.S. is attempting to force its version of civilization on China. Beijing-based Pang Zhongying at Renmin University believes 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.