Dragging Economy Down Last week's U.S. employment report was more than just a bummer for President Obama; it prompted a wave of negativity on the economy as a whole. This week, comments by various analysts and officials have included: shift money into bonds, the Fed is prepared to act, a key indicator has gone into recession territory, etc. Please go to www.worldperspectives.com and mark where you think the American economy is headed between now and the November election: better, worse, or pretty much the same. Drought Farm Bill Impact The House Agriculture Committee marks up its version of the 2012 Farm Bill tomorrow, right after a critical USDA WASDE report on the current crop in the ground. It also follows a Texas A&M study of r...
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
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.