U.S.-EU Contrast on Biofuel The EU announced its new policy is to limit biofuel made from food to 5 percent, end its subsidies by 2020, and mandate a 60 percent GHG reduction for new plants online after 1 July 2014. As stated by one minister, it "is not sustainable to put fuel production in competition with food." By contrast, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack doubled down by announcing new subsidies so that net food deficit New England could turn more of its food production into biofuel. Contrast in Trade Policy In their usual beggar thy neighbor approach to trade, the least developed countries are getting together to produce proposals that they will strongly advocate for should the G20 package of early harvest initiatives be moved forward...
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.