When USDA announced the 2109 version of its Market Facilitation Program (MFP) last week, which is intended to mitigate the impact of ongoing trade tensions, it indicated that payments would be “based on a single county rate multiplied by a farm’s total plantings to those crops in aggregate in 2019.” No payment rate was indicated. Adding confusion to planting decisions, USDA Secretary Perdue stated yesterday in a meeting with farmers in Pennsylvania that the planting requirements were not yet a certainty. The most timely decision farmers face is whether to hurriedly plant before the crop insurance deadline, plant late after the deadline, or make prevented planting claims under their crop insurance coverage. The final plant...
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
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.