After yesterday’s lashing, the grain and soy futures markets tried to rally during the overnight session. Corn and soybeans gained a few cents, and wheat, which took the worst beating, regained several cents. However, the rally effort was not able to generate any momentum, and it had faded away by the time the day session opened. The relatively quiet day session found no bullish enthusiasm. Corn prices puttered around before closing fractionally lower. Nearby Chicago and KC wheat contracts closed a few cents higher, but the more deferred contracts struggled to stay in the green. We cannot even call wheat’s action as much as a “dead cat bounce.” The soy complex continued yesterday’s slump with beans down 8.5-9...
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.