It’s 50 days until the 2020 election. USDA is expected to announce the terms of the second round of CFAP payments this week and the Senate Democrats today released a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about the disparity in the MFP payments. As we reported back in February – before CFAP payments were even anticipated – the Democrats on the House and Senate agriculture committees began questioning the MFP payments going to Republican leaning states, primarily in the South. The Senate Ag Committee Democrats released a report pointing out: The last installment of the aid will flow to counties that had higher payment rates, which are disproportionately in the South. The top six states receiving the highe...
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.