The Trump administration has reacted to the disruption of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma with a temporary waiver of a statute long opposed by the ag sector and denial of another one sought for increased ethanol use.According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), weekly refinery utilization in the Gulf region fell from 96 percent to 63 percent during the week of Hurricane Harvey while remaining virtually unchanged in other parts of the country. This is the biggest drop since 2008 during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Harvey’s impact on the sector was previously discussed (see Ag Perspectives, 29 August), including the refinery shutdowns in Texas.The Gulf Coast is home to about half of all refinery capacity in the U.S. with Texas accou...
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.