World Perspectives
farm-inputs

Notable TFP Changes

U.S. Secretary for Agriculture Tom Vilsack and EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski will be on the stage together next week at the Forum for the Future of Agriculture & Farm Europe. Mr. Vilsack has taken the position that increasing productivity is the pathway to sustainability whereas Europe is focused on mandatory reductions in certain inputs. USDA’s Economic Research Service has just issued its latest calculations of total factor productivity (TFP) for different countries. The agency’s TFP index is the ratio between inputs and outputs. If outputs grow faster than inputs, it results in a positive number relative to the 2015 baseline used in this exercise. The ratio can change year to year but for the most rece...

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Sorting Through Tariffs

On 2 April, President Trump announced the U.S. will impose a minimum baseline of 10 percent tariffs on all imported goods into the U.S. as well as higher reciprocal tariffs on exporting countries that impose tariffs on U.S. goods. Countries that will see tariffs higher than the baseline 10 perc...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Challenging Analogues

Drew Lerner at World Weather, Inc. makes an interesting analogy between U.S. weather this spring, and that of 1968. Both this year and 1968 involved recovery from peak solar activity (sunspots) and neutral ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) conditions.  He looked at seven previous...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Jul 25 Corn closed at $4.47/bushel, down $0.04 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Wheat closed at $5.34/bushel, up $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soybeans closed at $10.5175/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soymeal closed at $296.4/short ton, up $2.7 from...

Sorting Through Tariffs

On 2 April, President Trump announced the U.S. will impose a minimum baseline of 10 percent tariffs on all imported goods into the U.S. as well as higher reciprocal tariffs on exporting countries that impose tariffs on U.S. goods. Countries that will see tariffs higher than the baseline 10 perc...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Challenging Analogues

Drew Lerner at World Weather, Inc. makes an interesting analogy between U.S. weather this spring, and that of 1968. Both this year and 1968 involved recovery from peak solar activity (sunspots) and neutral ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) conditions.  He looked at seven previous...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Jul 25 Corn closed at $4.47/bushel, down $0.04 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Wheat closed at $5.34/bushel, up $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soybeans closed at $10.5175/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soymeal closed at $296.4/short ton, up $2.7 from...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Volatility versus Fundamentals

Markets have been trending lower this week and while soybeans and SRW teased lower numbers this morning, both ultimately turned around and left corn and soyoil the lonely losers for the day. HRS continued to bounce on the lower crop rating early this week. In contrast to SRW and HRW, HRS is up...

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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.

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