The very first farm bill, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, was passed in 1933 as an early part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal approach in dealing with the Great Depression. The intent was to try to protect farmers from very low crop prices that accentuated the impact of the depression on a rural America quite different from what exists today. That first farm bill came at a time when there were more than 6.5 million, mostly small, farms in the U.S. In addition, over half of the U.S. population lived in rural areas. Now, approximately 85 years later, the number of U.S. farms barely exceeds 2 million with less than a quarter of the population considered rural. However, today’s average-sized farm is about three times lar...
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
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.