Ag Secretary for USDA USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack's heavily reported comments at last week's Farm Journal Forum were at once instructive and disappointing. On the positive side, he is correct in asserting that the agriculture sector is defensive and needs to learn how to better communicate with the majority of Americans who live in urban areas. The secretary should know that the effort actually already has begun since it involves the use of checkoff funds overseen by USDA. However, a "proactive" message need not mean capitulation to radical groups like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). He argues that efforts to rebuff regulations and animal welfare are alienating the rest of the country, but most urbanites are oblivious and...
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...
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.