Corn Farmers took advantage of good weather conditions and corn with nearly ideal moisture levels and pushed the harvest an additional 7 percent last week. Yields remain strong at 7 MT/ha and the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange pegged the crop at 49 MMT, unchanged from its prior estimate. Private firms indicate the crop could be slightly larger and in the range of 49.5-50 MMT. Producers are now solely focused on selling corn, as the wheat is bagged and only a little remaining. Soybeans are being held in storage as a hedge against inflation (or, as farmers put it, “saving in dollars”). With corn the only thing left to market, farmers are becoming aggressive, especially as FAS prices ($225-230) are historically good, even if t...
What You Need to Know Today: The corn and soybean markets closed slightly higher in low-volume trade. The wheat market was mixed, with HRW continuing its downward trek on improved moisture. As expected, the bearish cattle on feed report drove down cattle prices and pulled hogs down with it. Mi...
Key Market Insights Macro markets delivered a full whipsaw today. Early in the session, crude oil had rallied back above $100/barrel as traders priced renewed concern over the U.S.-Iran standoff and potential supply risk through the Strait of Hormuz. That strength helped pull grains off their o...
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.