The Senate Appropriations Committee not only ignored the agricultural budget cuts recommended by the White House, but it ordered USDA Secretary Sonny Purdue to restore a position he had cancelled. Cotton War The Senate Appropriations Committee responded to the whining of the U.S. cotton industry and may give it a new $1 billion program on top of the $300 million ginning cost share program added last year. The proposal has at least three problems: By designating cottonseed eligible for the oilseeds provision of the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) subsidy program in addition to the lint insurance subsidy program in the 2014 Farm Bill, other groups will be encouraged to seek similar double-dipping in the future. For example, corn could propose th...
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.