Worst Time The U.S. House Agriculture Committee has begun hearings in preparation for writing the 2023 version of the farm bill. This week’s hearings cover conservation and livestock; next week the Committee will hear from USDA Undersecretary Robert Bonnie on commodities and risk management. University of Tennessee Professor Daryll Ray is not usually right, but he has correctly observed that the writing of this farm bill will occur during a period of high prices and intensive political partisanship. Dr. Ray is a proponent of supply management and so he calls writing a farm bill during high prices the “worst time” since it often involves a policy that is ultimately inadequate for when prices eventually fall. Indeed,...
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.