USDA Should Mimic FDA As noted in Ag Perspectives on 10 August 2018 (see Attacking Fake Food Claims), former FDA official and now Stanford University professor Henry Miller chastised his former agency for failing to enforce its prohibition of untruthful and misleading food labels. His examples included organic food being promoted as grown without toxic or persistent pesticides as well as food labeled as non-GMO when there is no GMO equivalent. His charge prompted FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to commit to an investigation of the problem. Now former USDA food safety official Dr. Richard Raymond has basically said that the market-correcting actions being taken by the FDA should also be performed by USDA in food categories under its jurisd...
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
The big news in the cattle markets yesterday was Tyson Foods’ move to close two more beef plants. One of them, the Joslin, Illinois, plant was shuttered immediately after the announcement. The other, in Eagle Mountain, Utah, is a case-ready plant that does not slaughter cattle. Tyson also...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
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.