As the partial U.S. government shutdown has moved into its third week with no end in sight, the nation’s press is increasingly focused on the ripple affect it is having on various sectors of the U.S. economy. An example is a recent article in the Washington Post that discussed how the lack of pay for Forest Service (FS) employees concentrated around Ogden, Utah – far away from Washington, DC – is affecting local retail businesses. The FS is an agency of USDA, and many of its employees are deemed “non-essential.” They are thus furloughed without pay until the shutdown ends. Numerous USDA employees in other agencies are also considered non-essential, including those who compile the many reports on crop productio...
The corn and soy complex closed higher, with the wheat market mixed, as winter wheat closed up but spring wheat and livestock ended lower. Part of the strength for corn and soybeans may have been a weather premium, as crop planting has started out fast but warm weather has been slow to develop...
Real GDP grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2026, slightly below the consensus expectation of 2.3 percent but above the 0.5 percent growth in Q4 2025. The GDP number matches the average annualized pace of growth since the peak back in late 2007, right before the Financial P...
Reflect for a moment on what you eat. There is a lot of advice out there in the ether about what you should eat, but really, what do you currently eat and how much? The good people at the USDA have some data for you, to help you answer that question. USDA says that we eat quite a bit of meat. L...
From WPI Consulting
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.