The U.S. and Brazil are edging toward a trade war over ethanol. Brazil has imposed a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) on imported ethanol with the full backing of the domestic industry there, and the U.S. ethanol industry is pressuring the Trump administration to remove the preferential tariff treatment for a number of Brazilian goods (since there is no longer a tariff on imported ethanol). To put the matter into perspective, it is instructive to take a look at the history of the two key trade measures. In 2010, the Brazilian government moved to temporarily eliminate its 20 percent tariff on ethanol imports and to have the market open through 2011. The purpose was twofold: 1) help the country fulfill its biofuel use goals with imports since domesti...
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...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.