Congress has a lot to do and a short time to do it. First, the timeline: the fiscal year ends on 30 September, and then about 60 days later, on 6 November, there’ll be the 2018 mid-term Congressional election for which Congress tries to adjourn at least 30 days prior in order to campaign. This week neither the House nor Senate is in session due to the August recess. The House won’t reconvene until after Labor Day, on 4 September. The Senate, however, will be back at work next week after on a one-week break. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) decided back in June to shorten the August recess. Reportedly, the extra work session was meant to address unfinished business, but more likely this was to keep the unusua...
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.