The EU Commission has determined that there is no need for continent-wide legislation to deal with perceived unfair trading power by wholesalers/grocers over farmers. TPP Toil and Trouble President Obama is meeting with the Republican leaders of the House and Senate to discuss the legislative agenda, presumably pitching for prompt work on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The administration concedes that it can offer very few supporters of the agreement from its party members, and there isn’t much hope for approval in 2017 given the anti-trade rhetoric from candidates in both parties running to be the next president. A firm commitment to take the issue up in a lame-duck session (November/December) of Congress may be the best that can b...
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.