News Updates KAZAKHSTAN AND IRAN Iran reportedly is very interested in importing grain from Kazakhstan and will build grain elevators to handle the Kazakh grain. There was talk that Iran will be used as a conduit for Kazakh grain to other countries in the region, with Kazakh grain coming down the Caspian Sea to Iranian ports and then cross-country in Iran to export ports close to the Middle East. This certainly looks like a reasonable alternative to shipping out of the Black Sea, where -- one assumes -- transit times to the Middle East or Asia would be longer and freight costs higher.The Kazakh government has suggested that it might change the current grain export subsidies to a truck leasing program that would supply the actual g...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
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.