Recent events are proving wrong the notion that history leads us to a fully integrated and borderless world. The march of history is uneven, and thus global trade will remain volatile for years to come. Scotland Signals Volatility Peter Tasker of Arcus Research notes that regardless of the outcome of the independence vote in Scotland on Thursday, events are proving wrong the notion that history leads us to a fully integrated and borderless world. He notes that political scientist Francis Fukuyama referred to it as the march of history toward liberal capitalist democracy and Thomas Friedman called it the "flattening of the earth." If the Scots vote yes, they will be choosing the emotional reward of tribalism and incurring a huge economic p...
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.