World Perspectives

Amateur Hour

As the U.S. and China reportedly near the conclusion of bilateral trade negotiations, Trump administration officials are turning their focus to Japan, though in somewhat unhelpful ways. Perhaps anxious to placate farmers who have borne the adverse brunt of the president’s trade wars and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) withdrawal, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said maybe agriculture would be the focus in the first phase of negotiations with Tokyo. However, leading with Japan’s most defensive issue is unlikely to bear the best result for American farmers. Preferably, a negotiator builds a stack of deliverables to the other side in order to build a position for making demands. Then National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow spe...

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U.S. cattle on feed totaled 11.6 million head on April 1, 2026, 1 percent below April 1, 2025.  Placements in feedlots during March totaled 1.71 million head, 7 percent below 2025.  Marketings of fed cattle during March totaled 1.63 million head, 6 percent below 2025.  Other disa...

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May 26 Corn closed at $4.4875/bushel, up $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.9125/bushel, down $0.0725 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.6725/bushel, up $0.035 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $331.8/short ton, down $0...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

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Friday’s CFTC report showed funds paring back their net long position across the major ag futures contracts for the second straight week as signs of hope in the Middle East triggered an exit of geological “risk on” trades from commodity markets. Funds sold 40,000 contracts (4...

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U.S. cattle on feed totaled 11.6 million head on April 1, 2026, 1 percent below April 1, 2025.  Placements in feedlots during March totaled 1.71 million head, 7 percent below 2025.  Marketings of fed cattle during March totaled 1.63 million head, 6 percent below 2025.  Other disa...

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May 26 Corn closed at $4.4875/bushel, up $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.9125/bushel, down $0.0725 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.6725/bushel, up $0.035 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $331.8/short ton, down $0...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Rebound for Corn, Beans on Iran News; Wheat Declines

New variables specifically in the agricultural markets were light today, but the Iran war news hit some markets like a tsunami. The war and Iran’s chokehold on global oil supplies have subjugated economies for nearly seven weeks with outsized petrol prices. Everything became distorted aro...

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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.

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