The uncertainty that Russia’s invasion has brought to agricultural markets continues. Roughly 32.9 MMT of grain has been exported from Ukraine since the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) began in July 2022. Russia refused to extend it Monday, siting the continued sanctions that target Russian leadership and financial institutions, which extended to its exclusion from the SWIFT international payment system. Russia's withdrawal from the BSGI, which includes canceling its guarantees for safe navigation for ocean vessels, also ended an agreement between the United Nations and Moscow in which U.N. officials agreed to help Russian food and fertilizer exports reach world markets. China is a notable exception to the U.S.-led effort to impose...
What You Need to Know Today: It was a quiet trading day across major agricultural commodities, with most contracts closing within 1 percent of the previous day's settlement. Trading volumes for corn and the soy complex were lighter than earlier in the week, as traders were positioning before a...
It is easy to get overwhelmed by the debates surrounding farm policy and crop production, especially the current back-and-forth about regenerative agriculture. Regeneration appears to be the word of the decade, the one that won’t go away. Its ubiquity cannot be ignored; in the same way we...
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.