The Senate is taking up the 2012 Farm Bill. Food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), will be a major issue. As we have noted many times before, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) represents a state that has 1.9 million food assistance program recipients and 56,000 farms. Preserving the nutrition title is a priority to her, and it likely will be the major sticking point between the House and Senate in the farm bill conference committee. Indeed, few outside of agriculture realize the role that food stamps play in the farm bill. However, since the 1977 Farm Bill, food stamps have been a major force that drives both urban and rural lawmakers to pass the legislation rough...
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...
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.