Trade like NATO U.S. Agricultural Trade Ambassador Gregg Doud says there is a difference between countries willing to make commitments and those actually meeting them. The same is true in NATO defense contributions. European contributions to NATO is a decades-old issue, beginning with force commitments made in Lisbon in 1952. By the 1970s, the U.S. Congress was threatening to reduce American contributions and ultimately required annual Pentagon reports on the matter. Former Defense Secretary Bill Gates reached his pique of disappointment over the matter during the 2011 Libyan crisis when the U.S. had to provide such basics as uniforms to Europe’s troops. The commitment to spending 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense...
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.