U.S. trade policy is being developed to reduce the national trade deficit, but there is one factor more important to consider than the trade balance.As discussed in yesterday’s Livestock Roundup (see Ag Perspectives, 9 February 2017), U.S. President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Abe are now meeting in the U.S. to discuss the future of trade between the two countries. Trade policy, especially in manufactured goods, has gained a prominence in the U.S. under the Trump administration that hasn’t been seen since the 1980s. That was the era of a number of protectionist trade policies, including the Voluntary Restraint Agreement (VRA) on Japan for auto exports; an expansion of the VRA on Japan, Korea, Brazil and Europe for steel exports; impos...
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.