World Perspectives

Identifying Mispricing Opportunities in Ag Futures

In many ways, human nature is fascinated with the future – predicting what will and what could be and formulating plans accordingly. This is one factor that makes commodity futures markets inherently intriguing – their role in foretelling the future. As WPI readers have likely experienced on a deep personal basis, commodity futures are both fascinating and infuriating, oftentimes simultaneously. Fascinating in their “wisdom of the crowds” approach to predicting the future and infuriating in the ever-changing nature of that forecast – changes that often defy one’s best efforts to predict the prediction. Commodity futures occupy a space that is simultaneously a “best available” forecast of a giv...

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Happy New Year!

The WPI team extends our best wishes to you and your families for a healthy and happy New Year. Thank you for your faithful readership, we are looking forward to serving you in 2026!  Please note that our next report will be issued on Friday, 2 January as the U.S. markets are closed for th...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: January WASDE is the Future

The pre-holiday risk-off, profit-taking mode continued on the last trading day of 2025. Traders closed out the calendar year with the expected low-level enthusiasm. Positions were tidied up with few fresh inputs as the past is the past and the future is now the USDA January WASDE report. ...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.4025/bushel, down $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.07/bushel, down $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.475/bushel, down $0.1475 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $299.4/short ton, down $...

Happy New Year!

The WPI team extends our best wishes to you and your families for a healthy and happy New Year. Thank you for your faithful readership, we are looking forward to serving you in 2026!  Please note that our next report will be issued on Friday, 2 January as the U.S. markets are closed for th...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: January WASDE is the Future

The pre-holiday risk-off, profit-taking mode continued on the last trading day of 2025. Traders closed out the calendar year with the expected low-level enthusiasm. Positions were tidied up with few fresh inputs as the past is the past and the future is now the USDA January WASDE report. ...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.4025/bushel, down $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.07/bushel, down $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.475/bushel, down $0.1475 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $299.4/short ton, down $...

livestock

Beef and Pork Past, Present and Future

USDA’s November slaughter data helps decode some of the outlook for 2026. There are the known knowns - cattle and hog numbers are down, weights are up, and the breeding inventory for cattle is growing while for hogs it remains constant. But stabilized dairy cow slaughter, lower sow slaugh...

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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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