The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled at $20.09/gallon, its lowest level since February 2002, and actually dipped below $20.00/gallon during trading. This makes a mess for blending economics for biofuel use. But there is a bigger problem – or two. First, the bearish oil price is based on collapsed (global) fuel demand and the RFS which mandates biofuel blending is based on volume. Previous oil price drops have been withstood because supply driven oil and gasoline price drops have led to increases in fuel use, and the RINs credits are the implicit support mechanism to biofuel prices. This time, however, is more analogous to the post 9/11 situation where travel and thus fuel use came to a standstill, but that was befor...
What You Need to Know Today: Attacks between the U.S. and Iran intensified overnight and the U.S. Central Command reported that the U.S. naval blockade against Iran will begin at 3:00 PM CDT Tuesday. President Trump said the Strait of Hormuz is open to all shipping traffic, except Iran. In an...
Beef packer margins improved to -$172/head last week, up $31 from the prior week as sharply lower fed cattle prices more than offset a seasonal decline in the Choice cutout. The cutout fell to $382/cwt while fed cattle prices dropped to $248/cwt, allowing packers to recover some of the margin c...
Key Takeaways: Aquaculture is becoming increasingly important in meeting global seafood demand, gaining market share as wild-caught fisheries face production limitations. Superior feed conversion efficiency gives aquaculture a competitive advantage over traditional livestock production, with l...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.