Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) last week regarding a study of last year's steep drop in cattle prices. This follows R-CALF USA's letter to the committee in January requesting an investigation of the market. GAO to Investigate Beef Market As previously reported here (see Ag Perspectives, 14 January 2016), the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) had sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee requesting an investigation into “potential antitrust and anticompetitive conduct in the U.S. cattle and beef markets.” Subsequently, the dominant cattle producer group, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), joi...
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
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.