Donald at Davos President Donald Trump today became the first U.S. leader to address the World Economic Forum in nearly two decades. Most notably and in a seeming reversal, Trump said he was now open to rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, either through bilateral negotiations with each member or “as a group,” provided the result is a “substantially better” deal for the U.S. He went on to say that his goal is to “restore integrity to our trading system” and to make it “fair and reciprocal.” Of course, the trading system has never been fully reciprocal, and the use of state-based subsidies that he abhors are not limited to his main trading nemesis, China. Furthermore, their...
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.