The Senate and House Agriculture Committees have passed their respective farm bill drafts. The Senate bill passed by a vote of 15-5 (the same as in 2012) on Tuesday, 14 May, and the House bill passed late last night, Wednesday, 15 May, by a vote of 36-10 (the 2012 version passed by a vote of 35-11).As we reported last week (see WPI 9 May), the Senate bill did not include the welfare provisions for egg layers that Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) had contemplated including in her mark. In the House version, Representative Steve King (R-Iowa) was successful in amending the bill to prohibit states from setting product standards for foods in interstate commerce, which addresses the issue of California's ban on eggs from layers kept in...
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.