It’s an annual tradition at this time to look back and assess where certain matters stand prior to the New Year. In that spirit, below is a summary regarding three topical issues. Tax Reform The congressional Republican majority, soon to be down one vote in the Senate (see below), reached a long and difficult compromise on the final passage of tax reform, or so it thought. Senators Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) are holding out for a more generous child care credit. This threatens what was a finely-tuned, carefully balanced package that could garner enough votes among Republicans, assuming there would be no Democratic support. One final change made to maneuver the bill through the parliamentary process as it relates t...
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.