Fair and Equitable In order to secure votes for the USMCA from Florida and Georgia politicians representing perishable fruit and vegetable growers, USTR promised subsequent action to impose the kind of seasonal import protections that failed to make it into the agreement just negotiated with Mexico. In response, Mexican Deputy Trade Minister Luz Maria de la Mora reciprocated by saying any such policy would be met by a similar protection against exports from the U.S. The Mexican answer appears to fit squarely with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ call for “fair and equitable” trade. Contrasts in Productive Attitudes The coronavirus spiked demand for surgical masks and Taiwan reacted to the shortage by banning their e...
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
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.