Different policy impacts of different cabinet appointments create outsized contrasts to confirmation hearings. Elsewhere, the KC Fed focuses on agribusiness consolidation while China’s encouragement of industry clustering creates non-competitive pricing.
Job Impact and Difficulty USDA Secretary-designee Sonny Perdue is expected to sail to Senate confirmation despite a long delay, and reported ethics and business concerns. To quote the Politico headline:“Perdue had a long wait for a short confirmation hearing — and nailed it.” By contrast, Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is caught in a firestorm of politics due to the out-sized policy impacts of the position. Meanwhile, the next chair of the WTO’s A...
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...
