A bipartisan bill entitled the “Energy Policy Modernization Act” is stranded as U.S. Senate negotiators hold proxy fights over things like aid to Flint, Michigan and its corroded water system. TTIP Gone The White House admitted this week to what is obvious to most trade policy analysts – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will not be concluded this year. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman has been pushing to reach an agreement with Europe in 2016, presumably to boost both his legacy and that of his boss, President Obama, before both leave office in less than a year. Driving an agreement to closure has made no sense to Brussels since it risked having to simply renegotiate the outcome with the next elected presi...
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.