Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro promised continued land development whereas his challenger and the ultimate winner, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, promised to crack down on illegal deforestation. This does not mean agricultural area expansion stops, but it might slow down. The annual rate of expanding Brazilian land being used to harvest major crops has been 3.92 percent since 2000. During the past few years of the Bolsonaro government, it has expanded at a 4.38 percent rate. This contrasts with the expansion during Lula’s previous eight years as head of state during 2003 to 2010 of 1.89 percent. Yesterday’s win by Lula does not mean the end to expanded Brazilian area under production, but it mig...
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...
Key Market Insights Geopolitical Limbo: Geopolitical risk remained a key driver across global commodity markets today. President Trump stated that the Iran memorandum of understanding is not yet final and warned that military action could resume if negotiations fail. Both sides continue w...
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.