The regulated view the final Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule with at least suspicion, and the National Farmers Union, which supported the earlier draft until it heard otherwise from its membership, described the latest version as an improvement but not perfect due to its vagueness. WOTUS Campaigns Federal agencies in Washington used to issue draft and then final regulations without much fanfare, but the effort by the EPA to regulate the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) has become so politicized that it stands accused by critics of outright lobbying to protect its just-issued final version. The agency claims to have made concessions to both industry and conservation interests, crafting better definitions of what qualifiy as exempt and what...
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.