Stuff and Fluff of en dehors Donald Trump has adopted the “Asian pivot” of his predecessor but not in the same fashion. While Barack Obama approached China cautiously and all others with full embrace, the Donald’s less nuanced approach involves far higher risk. Thus far on his maiden Asian voyage, he has committed the Koreans to an “expedited process” of unknown trade policy changes, was rebuffed by the Japanese with Kyōmi ga arimasen (not interested), and obtained a deal in China that is high on the sweet but low on the substance portion of a classic fluffernutter. The Chinese agreed to buy soybeans they already intended to purchase and animal proteins through an acquisition they specifically bought for that...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. and Chinese officials are expected to discuss agriculture and non-tariff trade barriers ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month, potentially opening the door to additional U.S. agricultural purchases or improved marke...
The U.S. will observe Labor Day on Monday, 7 September. U.S. markets and the WPI office will be closed that day. The next edition of Ag Perspectives will be published Tuesday, 8 September...
Key Takeaways: Drought and changes to the multi-year trend in cow slaughter and retention have the potential to dramatically alter beef trim supplies and pricing, and WPI specifically models three different drought scenarios for fall 2026. Based on our models, WPI expects 90 percent lean...
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.