The return of the Black Sea region as the breadbasket of the world is really a story about productivity gain. Over a decade (2008 to 2017), both China and Indonesia increased their total crop output by around 25 percent, but they did this in part by expanding their cropped areas by 10.7 percent and 19.3 percent, respectively. By contrast, Ukraine increased its output by 48 percent with a less than one percent expansion in area, and Russia boosted its output by 26 percent while shrinking its cropland footprint by a small fraction. Canada is another standout story, having boosted output by 22.5 percent while reducing land use by almost one percent. Canada and the Black Sea may also have benefited the most from the atmospheric warming o...
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.