World Perspectives

Canadian Pacific Rail Lockout

Since the beginning of this month, a labor dispute among rail workers in Canada has been looming over the already tight fertilizer market. As of last week, Canadian Pacific Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) could not come to an agreement to solve the disagreement and a lockout started this weekend. Canadian operations of CP are being scheduled for shutdown. As The Fertilizer Institute said, “this is the worst possible time” for a shutdown and could have a “devastating impact on fertilizer availability.” Last year, CP transported 151,789 carloads of potash. About 10 percent of CP’s cargo is fertilizer, about 75 percent of all fertilizer in Canada is moved by rail; the majority of potash co...

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Summary of Futures

Sep 25 Corn closed at $4.0925/bushel, down $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  Sep 25 Wheat closed at $5.3825/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.  Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.27/bushel, up $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  Aug 25 Soymeal closed at $275.8/short ton, up $0.2...

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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.

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