On Monday, WPI discussed the state of the economy (What is a Recession and Why Does it Matter if We’re In One?). As we wrote, “The whole situation – like COVID and the policy and structural changes that came with it – is unprecedented and still playing out.” Today’s jobs report illustrates that. As covered in WPI’s report Monday, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) employment index was “still in the contraction phase, but only barely, at 49.9 percent, but with most manufacturers reporting they are still hiring.” Specifically, that index of 49.9 percent indicated that employment was just 1/10th of one percent below recovering to pre-COVID levels. Officially, as of today&rsquo...
What You Need to Know Today: There has already been a strong run of flash soybean sales announcements in recent weeks, but more than 1.4 MMT reported this morning is an exceptionally large single-day total with major implications for the market. If the sales to China and unknown destinations w...
On Friday, at 6:57 AM, President Donald Trump announced, via a social media post, a 90-day window during which up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef could be imported outside of tariff-rate quotas—a move aimed at bringing down costs for American consumers. This is the secon...
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.