U.S. agriculture and other sectors have filed suit against the Obama administration's efforts to regulate the waters of the U.S. (WOTUS), and now environmentalists say they've found the smoking gun to attack the regulation for giving away too much to industry. Sweet Bellwether A possible indication of how low the bar is to achieve a "21st century trade agreement" is the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR's) assurance to the U.S. sugar industry that, "We are not doing anything in TPP that will undermine the U.S. sugar program." At this juncture, the huge price disparity between the U.S. domestic market and the world market is evidenced by the high volume of sugar flowing illegally (outside of a previously negotiated antidumping suspension a...
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.
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...