Sonny Perdue’s confirmation hearing focused on budgets, crop insurance and trade, but it may still be some time before he’s finally confirmed and longer still before USDA is fully staffed.Last Thursday the Senate Agriculture Committee convened the confirmation hearing for Sonny Perdue to be secretary of agriculture, although it has not yet set a date for the confirmation vote. The controversy around Perdue’s business record has largely been settled. Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) said to reporters, “He’s resolved issues on conflict of interest and has addressed other issues.” No questions on this topic were raised during the hearing.Perdue’s testimony was short on policy and long on biography; he left virtually all of the polic...
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.