Make it Transparent There is no word at this hour as to the outcome of today’s bilateral trade talks between Japan and the U.S. The talks are proceeding according to tradition – negotiations are held in secret until completed in order to avoid special interest group politics from influencing the outcome. The EU-U.S. trade negotiations that are scheduled to get underway on 20 August should proceed in the opposite manner. The two governments already tried the secret approach in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations and failed, in large part due to a lack of trust. That trust must be even less now with Donald Trump’s unique approach to the art of a deal. Given his reputation for low veracity...
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...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.