EU Proposals Will Exclude Soyoil and Palm Oil as Biodiesel Feedstocks The EU Commission has put forward a "College Orientation Debate" paper offering two proposals to address the issue of indirect land use change (ILUC) in determining which biofuel feedstocks are acceptable. Current EU policy does not factor ILUC into identifying acceptable biofuel feedstocks. ILUC refers to the effect of using food crops for biofuels as causing additional non-agricultural land to be brought into crop production to offset the food crops converted to biofuel.The first proposal would not factor in ILUC in calculating greenhouse gas emission reduction of biofuels. However, it would raise the minimum greenhouse gas emission reduction for acceptable biofuels...
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
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.