Corn, wheat and soybean started ever so slightly firmer Sunday evening and then traded mixed the rest of the night. All the markets started today’s session lower, and the losses mounted as the day wore on. There just isn’t any fundamental news out to ignite even a minor short-covering rally. The funds are now holding what might be record-large short positions in wheat, corn and soy complex futures combined, and they were adding to them again today. While there are several arguments over why corn and wheat markets have become so cheap, most cite the lack of a trade deal with China as the primary reason. The daily news reports are always positive (as they were again today), but the finish line is still not in sight. One expert on...
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.