Dirty Deal During the early days of negotiating the Uruguay Round, industry leaders fretted that trade liberalization aspirations would be thwarted by protections sought by agriculture. Spin forward nearly four decades and the reverse concern is at hand – sacrificing U.S. corn exports to Mexico in order to protect the Biden Administration’s goal of domestic content requirements for automobiles. At least one trade observer notes that the USMCA is USTR Katherine Tai’s “baby” and there are currently several major disputes to be reconciled. Mexico wants to stop corn imports from the U.S., Canada wants to stop dairy imports from the U.S., and the Biden Administration wants to help union workers building cars and li...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
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.