Every country in the world has a trade policy pertaining to whatever it imports or exports. The policy may be explicitly touted by its government or developed on a strictly unwritten empirical basis. National trade policies always include some sort of government involvement, be it passive laissez-faire, aggressive management or, usually, something in between. With some notable exceptions, the U.S. has generally long pursued free trade policies and the elimination or at least reduction of import tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers. It was a key sponsor of the Tokyo and Uruguay Rounds of international trade negotiations as well as a supporter of the agreements that both produced, including establishment of the WTO. In the 2016 election ca...
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.