USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack is in Nashville to address the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). Back in Washington, USDA Director of Communications Matt Paul today said at the time of this report, "The secretary has been made aware that the president would like him to continue to serve." The official announcement is scheduled for later today. Secretary Vilsack would be the first USDA Secretary to serve a second term since Orville Freeman under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.Meanwhile, AFBF President Bob Stallman struck what can be described as a uniquely positive note on the status of farm policy. While many groups have expressed their dissatisfaction with the nine-month extension of the 2008 Farm Bill, Stallman used his add...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Unlike the 2022 fertilizer shock, today’s disruption is rooted less in rerouted trade flows and more in damaged production capacity, raw material constraints and uncertain recovery timelines. That makes this a longer-duration risk for U.S. agricultural producers and retailers who must sec...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.