The Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour kicks off this week, and already there are reports of the analysts finding problems in the fields with immaturity, of course, being one of them. They cite dry soils, inconsistencies across fields, disease and a preliminary average corn yield of 151.50 bushels/acre (BPA) in Ohio. That is 8.5 bushels below USDA’s August WASDE estimate of 160 BPA for the state. In South Dakota, the tour’s predicted corn yield for just the southeast corner of the state is 151 BPA versus a USDA statewide forecast of 157 BPA. The crop tour can impact the futures market, particularly when there is little other news to influence it. However, that raises questions about the tour’s accuracy. It has become much more...
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.