As the 2012 Farm Bill enters its second day of deliberations on the Senate floor, there is a new splinter on the dairy front. Senator Robert Casey (D-Pennsylvania) has proposed an alternative plan to the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) Dairy Security Act (DSA). The DSA, of course, has margin insurance provisions and a controversial supply management provision that can be triggered by increased milk production. Casey's plan is even more interventionist, with the following provisions:
Pricing formula based on national cost of production, Import restrictions, and Supply management provision to be triggered under certain production levels.
While the Casey plan is a fringe proposal, the DSA is not. There is indeed substantia...
What You Need to Know Today: Cattle futures extended their sharp selloff Friday as weakening cash cattle prices, deteriorating feedlot profitability, and reduced packer demand continued to weigh on the market. The inability of futures to sustain a rally following last week's bullish Cattle on...
As predicted, the Federal Reserve held rates steady at the last meeting before the midterm elections, likely in part because of the election (see WPI 19 October and 22 September). The decision comes at the tail end of a midterm election cycle that has been marked by the two parties campaigning...
Key Takeaways: The tariff burden rose sharply in 2025 and 2026: the effective rate on imports in HTS Chapters 1–24 increased from 1.53 percent in 2024 to 6.11 percent in 2025, before averaging 5.68 percent in January–August 2026. Headline rates tell only part of the story: exemptio...
