No Food or Jobs USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue stuck with conventional conservativism in at least one of his “principles” for the next farm bill – the able-bodied must work if they are to receive food assistance (food stamps). He also wants to limit those among them without any dependents to 90 days of such assistance unless they work at least 80 hours a month, are in training or enrolled tin education. However, as detailed by Hilary Hoynes, an economics and public policy professor at UC-Berkley, there are too often no jobs available for those receiving the benefits. No Workers, Poor Work The Idaho state legislature is considering legislation that would enable farms to use prison labor if no other workers can be fo...
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
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.