TPA Moves Up: Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), the U.S. president's ability to ask Congress for an up or down vote on trade agreements, thus barring them from amendment, is back on the front burner this year after mostly being avoided in years past. The reasons include not only moving the expected Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement through Congress, but also allowing the Legislative Branch to provide guidance to the White House as to its expectations, and as a similar signal to trading partners. The problem is the large number of signals being contemplated and the divergence of the two parties on some of them. For example, the usual fight over the extent of labor and environmental objectives in an agreement.However, there also are...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Unlike the 2022 fertilizer shock, today’s disruption is rooted less in rerouted trade flows and more in damaged production capacity, raw material constraints and uncertain recovery timelines. That makes this a longer-duration risk for U.S. agricultural producers and retailers who must sec...
From WPI Consulting
Weighing in on strategic realignment
WPI’s team was retained by the governing board of a U.S. industry organization to review a decision, reached by vote, to invest significant assets into the development and management of an export trading company. WPI’s team conducted a formal review of this decision and concluded that the current level of market saturation would limit the benefits of the investment. Based on WPI’s analysis and recommended actions, the board subsequently reversed its decision and undertook a strategic planning effort to identify more impactful investments. On behalf of numerous clients, WPI has not only assisted in identifying strategic paths but also advised their implementation.