The promised program to aid farmers hurt by the trade conflict with China and others will be $12 billion, according to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue at a press briefing this afternoon (see Trade Mitigation Funds for details). President Trump is scheduled to speak in Iowa tomorrow, and he will no doubt tout the program as helping farmers deal with the financial strains of lower crop prices. As an aside, there is no way of providing aid to producers hurt by Trump’s trade policies that can offset the resulting market distortions. The risk is that the way the aid program is structured will add to the distortions and thus widen the harm those policies cause. Overnight futures prices for wheat, corn and soybeans headed lower as the trade di...
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
Weighing in on strategic realignment
WPI’s team was retained by the governing board of a U.S. industry organization to review a decision, reached by vote, to invest significant assets into the development and management of an export trading company. WPI’s team conducted a formal review of this decision and concluded that the current level of market saturation would limit the benefits of the investment. Based on WPI’s analysis and recommended actions, the board subsequently reversed its decision and undertook a strategic planning effort to identify more impactful investments. On behalf of numerous clients, WPI has not only assisted in identifying strategic paths but also advised their implementation.