Ad Nauseam at 50,000 Feet Opining on agriculture’s “sacralized” issues -- those treated as or made sacred, such as locavorism, veganism, food safety, climate change and the like -- is fraught with hazard, but this summation is intended to be informative and hopefully entertaining. The Slumping Derivatives Industry 2012 was a difficult year for the derivatives industry. Trading volume on world derivative exchanges took a nose dive. The downtrend encompassed all regions of the world except Latin America. Greater Soybean Demand, Larger Soybean Stocks Many farmers are concerned that record soybean production in South America this year and the prospects of record U.S. soybean plantings in 2013 will result in a major decli...
Weighing in on strategic realignment
WPI’s team was retained by the governing board of a U.S. industry organization to review a decision, reached by vote, to invest significant assets into the development and management of an export trading company. WPI’s team conducted a formal review of this decision and concluded that the current level of market saturation would limit the benefits of the investment. Based on WPI’s analysis and recommended actions, the board subsequently reversed its decision and undertook a strategic planning effort to identify more impactful investments. On behalf of numerous clients, WPI has not only assisted in identifying strategic paths but also advised their implementation.
What You Need to Know Today: Harvest pressure in the U.S. sent corn and soybeans lower as supplies increased and there were signs USDA’s upward revisions to yields in the October WASDE could be close to right. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated over the weekend, with Ukrai...
Key Takeaways: India is excluding sugarcane juice, sugar syrup, and B-heavy molasses from its 2026/27 fuel ethanol procurement program to protect domestic sugar supplies, potentially shifting additional demand toward corn and rice. India’s corn consumption for ethanol has surged from jus...
Developer's Note 24 August 2026: WPI recently completed an exercise that updated the codebase for this app and solved some of the discrepancies between our five-year average calculation and USDA's. There are a few lingering cases where early (late) starts (finishes) to the crop cycle resu...