Farm Policy Simplification It is a broad mantra that farm policy needs to be simplified. In the U.S., various proposals have been made for a single, cross-commodity program that reduces risk, covers shallow losses or some other construct. But getting agreement has been difficult. EU policymakers are concurrently yammering for "CAP Simplification" while at the same time adding on various requirements, such as mandatory "greening" and rural development obligations, plus piling on mandatory cross-compliance. India has sought to convert its minimum support price into a direct payment, but it has run headlong into the plethora of wallahs, various middlemen and commission agents that might lose out on such a scheme.Separately, a little name an...
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.