As impressive as the new barge and export facilities are, there continue to be major bottlenecks in the inland transportation system that hinder commodity movements.Participating in a tour last week, which was organized by the U.S. soybean sector to investigate Brazil's agricultural transportation and export infrastructure, provided the opportunity to visit with farmer organizations and government officials in Cuiaba, Mato Grosso as well as with port and exporter officials in the ports of Belem, Santarem, Itaqui and Bacarena. The group also toured export facilities in the latter three. Santarem, Belem and Bacarena are located along the Amazon in the state of Para, and Itaqui is in the state of Maranhao.The tour participants came away impres...
What You Need to Know Today: A third U.S. border crossing (Columbus, New Mexico) has reopened to Mexican cattle imports following nearly two years of restrictions related to New World screwworm. The reopening could gradually improve feeder cattle availability, although more than 60 confi...
Yesterday, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a new report of negotiated cash purchases of cattle under the mandatory price report. The report included Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. The goal of the report was to solve the confidentiality issues e...
Key Takeaways: U.S. soybean crushing began in 1911 and saw its most rapid expansion during the 1930s amid the broader agricultural and technology revolutions of the time. After peaking in the early 2000s, the soybean crushing industry went through a downturn as poor crush margins forced...
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.