Remaking a Food System The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was crafted in the late 1950s to respond to chronic food shortages in Europe following WWII. Spin forward 70 years and major concerns include obesity and agriculture’s damage to the environment. As a food production tool, the CAP was too successful in the eyes of some but whether its next iteration under the Farm to Fork Strategy can retain food security while conquering new goals is unclear. There are reasonable questions about the new objectives. For example, there is the goal of reducing the use of synthetic chemical pesticides. Integrated pest management can reduce the need for pesticides but general animosity against chemistry is more of a philosophical motivation than...
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.