Grain and soy futures markets were mostly mired in a pit of bearish mud for the last half of 2018. Years of big U.S. and world crops had resulted in a buildup of stocks to record or near-record levels. Estimated world consumption of corn and wheat seemed to finally catch up with production in 2018/19 with ending stocks declining for the first time in several years. However, China altered corn’s statistical fundamentals with a few computer strokes that made huge increases in its “official” production and supply estimates. Although Chinese corn might not be available to the world market, available supplies from other origins were ample. World wheat supplies were also decreasing, especially stocks of good quality milling...
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
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.