The overnight price weakness carried over into the day session with the strong U.S. dollar and China's weakening economy keeping prices under pressure. General Comments Yesterday's Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commitment of Traders (COT) report confirmed that there was a massive transfer of ownership in CME grain and soybean markets in the week ending 30 June. It showed managed funds long about 71,000 contracts of corn as of that date. The previous COT report had funds short about 95,000 corn contracts. A position shift of approximately 165,000 contracts in a single week is unprecedented. There was a similar, though smaller, change in the Chicago wheat market where funds went from being short more than 50,000 contracts to l...
What You Need to Know Today: Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans continued to accelerate, with USDA reporting another 558 KMT sold to China and 236 KMT to unknown destinations. Combined with sales announced Wednesday and Thursday, the latest purchases bring the three-day total to approximately...
Key Takeaways: With the fall calf run now upon us, producers are finally getting a glimpse of what their realized profits will be for 2026. Some producers may have already obtained a strong estimate of 2026 revenues, especially if calves were forward sold in, for example, the mid-summer...
As fall begins, wild migratory birds are starting their seasonal migration. That has the industry and government officials worried about the potential spread, again, of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Some members of Congress have called for the United States to be prepared for a pote...
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.