Not Worth Its Salt The EU has been making inroads with its effort to expand protections for geographic indicators (GI), and this has forced U.S. producers and those from other countries to organize in opposition. The newly announced Consortium for Common Food Names worries that Brussels has extracted bilateral agreements from several countries and has support from some American GI products such as "Idaho potatoes" and "Kona coffee." This will force U.S. cheese exporters, for example, to rename their products going to restricted countries. Meanwhile, Brussels has granted so-called "protected status" to French sea salt (Sel de Guérande/Fleur de sel de Guérande) harvested off the coast of Brittany. Given the fact that soluble salt can be ca...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
From WPI Consulting
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.