The chance for fast-tracking the farm bill as an attachment to the payroll tax cut extension has been lost. Congress today will vote on a final compromise package negotiated between the House and Senate that would keep the unemployment tax at 4.2 percent (from 6.2 percent) through the end of 2012, reduce unemployment eligibility from 99 weeks to 63 weeks (or 73 weeks in some states), and provided a fix to the Medicare plan that would prevent a drop in physicians' payments. As we noted on 14 February, Senators Max Baucus (D-Montana) and Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) had advocated attaching a farm bill to the payroll tax cut extension.As for the president's proposed budget cuts for agriculture contained in the FY 2013 budget proposal present...
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.