World Perspectives

Codifying Gains; Saving Forests; From Importer to Exporter; Arctic Fruit

Codifying Gains  American farmers are said to be politically conservative. After all, they tend to vote for Republicans in large numbers. But even Republicans are not the budget hawks they once were. Instead, politics has solely become who gets the largess, not whether it builds more debt. Farmers have received tens of billions of dollars over the past two years as compensation for the trade war with China, and then for adverse impacts from the pandemic. Some of this money arrived at the same time commodity prices were rising and so net farm income rose by 43 percent in 2020. If there are no more supplemental payments, farm income will drop in 2021. Consequently, some farmers are not asking for more temporary payments, they want to lo...

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Market Commentary: Good Weather Trumps Demand

Markets opened today pretty much where they ended in the overnight and pretty much stayed that way all day, which is to say in the red. And it did so pretty much across the board on lower volume. There was just not any real change in the story of impending big U.S. crops arriving on top of big...

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Bullish Cattle Inventory and Cattle on Feed Reports

USDA released two key reports on the cattle market today, the Cattle on Feed report and the July Cattle Inventory report.  The Cattle Inventory report was suspended last year, so this is the first look at the cattle herd since 2023.  The nation’s cattle herd, as of 1 July, is 94...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.19/bushel, down $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  Sep 25 Wheat closed at $5.3825/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.21/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $281.6/short ton, down $1...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Good Weather Trumps Demand

Markets opened today pretty much where they ended in the overnight and pretty much stayed that way all day, which is to say in the red. And it did so pretty much across the board on lower volume. There was just not any real change in the story of impending big U.S. crops arriving on top of big...

livestock

Bullish Cattle Inventory and Cattle on Feed Reports

USDA released two key reports on the cattle market today, the Cattle on Feed report and the July Cattle Inventory report.  The Cattle Inventory report was suspended last year, so this is the first look at the cattle herd since 2023.  The nation’s cattle herd, as of 1 July, is 94...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.19/bushel, down $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  Sep 25 Wheat closed at $5.3825/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.21/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $281.6/short ton, down $1...

livestock

Cattle on Feed for July 1, 2025

U.S. Cattle on Feed is down 2 percent annually at 11.1 million head on July 1, 2025.  Placements in June totaled 1.44 million head, 8 percent below 2024. Marketings in June totaled 1.71 million head, 4 percent below 2024.  Other disappearance in June totaled 53,000 head, 7 percent bel...

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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.

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