Values-Based Trading In the latest effort to block a trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur, activist groups Uplift and TASC issued a report claiming agricultural and climate practices in South America are “inconsistent” with EU values. Values-based trading now joins vaccine nationalism, digital discrimination, “national security,” and other spanners being thrown in the works of globalization. “Values” are a slippery slope. Nations and cultures have wildly varying standards on a plethora of issues that could be used as cause to block trade. Perhaps imports from the EU could be blocked because member states like Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania do not recognize gay marriage. Even the GATT/WTO could n...
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.