Some are raising concerns that cooler temperatures and excess late season rain have caused quality problems for the typically high protein/strong gluten spring wheat crop. There is the threat that the lower quality wheat will end up being delivered against futures contracts and is causing falling prices in Minneapolis. That concern has not been reflected thus far in USDA’s weekly Crop Progress report. The share of the hard red spring wheat crop rated Good/Excellent fell from 74 percent at the beginning of August to 72 percent last week. That is still well above the average of the past ten years, and strikingly better than the 2021 and 2023 HRS crops at this time of the season. Thus far in August, the December HRS contract has f...
Markets have no shortage of headlines today, but the reaction depends on what sits underneath them. Strong economic growth comes with renewed inflation pressure. Higher crude inventories do little to solve tight diesel supplies. Rain is delaying one crop while helping another, and trade expecta...
Key Takeaways: DDGS prices have been pushing higher this summer as corn, soybean meal, and other feedstuff values have surged amid strong export demand and supply concerns. WPI’s models anticipate additional gains for DDGS values heading into early 2027, with FOB plant prices reach...
Russian Grain Markets: 14–18 September 2026 The Russian grain market remained bearish during the second week of September, although the market is attempting to establish a bottom as trading is now dominated by new-crop supplies. Logistics remain a major factor. Farms and traders located b...
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.