After nearly two-and-a-half years of trade negotiations over sugar, last month the U.S. commerce secretary put a hard deadline on the talks. A deal now appears within reach to be signed tomorrow.Today was the deadline for the U.S. and Mexico to reach a deal on sweetener trade, and a pact was reportedly finalized, although final consultations with the industry have yet to be completed. As a result, the deadline has been extended for 24 hours. According to a statement this afternoon from U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross: The two sides have come together in quite meaningful ways, but there remain a few technical details to work out. We are quite optimistic that our two nations are on the precipice of an agreement we can all support, and so...
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.