In terms of agriculture, the estate tax is one of the bigger concerns in the potpourri of issues that make up the impending fiscal cliff. If left unaddressed, the estate tax will revert to pre-2001 levels.The estate tax was modified in 2001 through the Economic Growth and Taxpayer Relief Reconciliation Act, which reduced federal estate and gift tax rates. The legislation substantially increased the amount of property that can be transferred to the next generation free of the federal estate tax, culminating in the tax's complete repeal in 2010 (persons dying in 2010 would have owed no estate tax under the 2001 Act). However, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, one of the high-profile tax e...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Key Takeaways: Argentina is on pace for a record corn crop and record exports in the current marketing year, with abundant supplies likely to keep the country highly competitive in global export markets. Argentina’s record exportable surplus is allowing it to offer highly competitive pri...
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.