EPA Sets Biodiesel Blend Mandate at 1.28 Billion Gallons The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last Friday announced that it will set the biodiesel blend mandate for 2013 at 1.28 billion gallons. That is a 28 percent increase from the 2012 mandate of 1 billion gallons and forecasted production in 2012 of 1.07 billion gallons. The 280-million-gallon increase is necessary to meet requirements for blending advanced biofuels. Biodiesel is the only advanced biofuel now being produced in any volume. EPA labeled the increase in 2013 as "moderate."Assuming it requires 7.3 pounds of fats and oils to produce a gallon of biodiesel, it will require 4.238 MMT (9.34 billion pounds) of fats and oils to make 1.28 billion gallons of biodiesel. T...
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.