When we entered the grain business right out of college in the mid-1950s, there was a considerable level of antipathy and distrust between agricultural cooperatives and non-coop grain companies. The two groups often competed to buy grain from the same farmers. They also competed to sell seeds, feed and fertilizer as well as a variety of other goods and services to the same customers. It was common to see a coop-owned country elevator and a privately-owned one along the same railroad track in the same small town trying to conduct the same business activities with the same customer base. Part of the distrust and antipathy was philosophical. The agricultural cooperative movement grew in response to farmers’ widely-held belief that they...
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.