A coalition of agriculture groups has proposed paying farmers $100/acre to implement climate-smart practices. The total price tag of $40 billion a year is substantially above the amount proposed in climate legislation currently before the U.S. Congress and would have broader objectives than just carbon sequestration. The total amount of land used for crops has declined over time as productivity has improved. Concurrent with the reduced use of land for crops has been an increase in forested land, which is about double the area planted to crops. Land not in forests and not used for pasture or cropland has been relatively stable at about roughly double the amount used for crops. Roughly a quarter of all U.S. land is used for crops. The larges...
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.