World Perspectives
feed-grains

Smaller and Smaller Crops

The market adage that “big crops grow bigger” means that forecasts typically start out conservative, and a season that starts well typically ends well. The current betting is the opposite: small crops get smaller. The bears will recall that planting progress was unspectacular last year, and yet production surprised to the upside, mostly due to perfect weather. In 2009, the corn crop’s planting pace was 10 percent slower than the year before, but it produced yields that were 7 percent larger. A record 97 percent had been planted by week 20 in 2012 (see graph below), but drought caused the average yield to be substantially lower. All that said and ignoring total planted acres, the size of the corn crop correlates in most ye...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.445/bushel, up $0.04 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.0775/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.5225/bushel, down $0.06 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soymeal closed at $298.4/short ton, up $0.2 from...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Corn Firm, Bean Weak, Weak Wheat Rebound

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Livestock Roundup: Meat Market Recap, Beef is Driver

Reported November meat sales data show meat department sales were positive and have remained so since Q1 of 2023. In all cases, dollar gains were from a combination of inflation and demand growth. Indeed, meat demand has remained remarkably resilient through 2025. On a per capita basis, chicken...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.445/bushel, up $0.04 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.0775/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.5225/bushel, down $0.06 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soymeal closed at $298.4/short ton, up $0.2 from...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments data for the week ending Nov 27, 2025...

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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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