Grain and oilseed contracts traded mixed to lower on Friday, torn between being over-weight against large yields, and under bought in the face of a late summer loss of moisture combined with a litany of potentially damaging disease outbreaks. The number of foliar diseases that have been spotted include tar spot, Goss’s wilt, rust, white mold, iron deficiency, sudden death syndrome, etc. Illinois is the second largest corn state and the Pro Farmer tour saw some issues. Minnesota may have a corn yield over 200 bushels/acre (12.67 MT/Ha) but then it also has disease in some hybrids. Soybeans may have record pod counts but then fail to optimally fill during a dry late August. This is not to overstate the situation. The disease impac...
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.