We wrote about President Obama's concept of creating a singular business and trade department back on 24 March 2011, so this is part reprise. But, the plan was officially announced today and so this includes a reaction to the specifics.The Obama Administration is asking for Congressional authority to reorganize government agencies. Specifically, a merger of the Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration (SBA), USTR and other trade agencies, but not USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). In fact, FAS is not even referenced in the White House graphic explaining how government currently works with businesses and exporters. Apparently the White House got the political message: Don't mess with USDA.New Old Idea: Conceptually...
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...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.