GOOD MORNING, Corn and bean prices set new contract highs again overnight before seeing some morning profit-taking. Soyoil futures also set new contract highs, as the uptrend continues. US weather will remain cool and wet after delivering snow -showers across the Midwest yesterday. By Friday, temperatures will begin to warm before another cooler spell sets in again. Expect that by the time we hit Friday we will have some profit-taking on the chance of a return to something closer to normal. Funds could now be record long corn with yesterday's buying activity. Corn continues to receive support from a strong basis and improving ethanol margins. Advertised expectations for ethanol production from the...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to -$261/head last week, down $19 from the prior week as weaker beef values (especially the Choice cutout) were offset by firmer fed cattle prices, which further compressed packer profits. The cutout slipped to $387/cwt while fed cattle prices held above $259/cw...
What You Need to Know Today: The U.S. and Iran reportedly agreed to pause hostilities to allow vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz this week (theoretically, at least). There were some rumors of a possible Chinese blockade against Taiwan. Analysts are looking for the largest U.S. 1 June cor...
Proposition 12: The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has advocated for a fix to Proposition 12, the California animal welfare law, in the Senate farm bill. The House version of the farm bill included a fix, but the Senate bill, based on the discussion draft released by Chairman John Boozm...
From WPI Consulting
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.