The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FMOC) convenes its June meeting today, concluding any action it might take by tomorrow. Last Friday the CPI for May was released showing inflation at a more than 40-year high growing at 8.6 percent on an annual basis. On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 1 percent; today the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 0.8 percent in May, for an annual rate of 10.8 percent. That ups the stakes for the Fed’s decision on interest rates. At the conclusion of the May meeting, Fed Chairman Jerome said: Assuming that economic and financial conditions evolve in ways that are consistent with our expectations, there’s a broad sense on the committee that additional 50- basis-point increase...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
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.