If this was NPR’s Marketplace, we’d be playing the happy music right now. CBOT grains and oilseeds, along with most CME livestock futures, closed higher today with active end-user buying. The soy complex continues to rally and give excellent margins to both U.S. and Argentine crushers while wheat futures continue riding the U.S Plains states drought. Outside markets are higher with the Dow up 228 points (0.91 percent) and the S&P 25.5 (0.95 percent) higher as well. The CBOE’s VIX index is 33 points higher and just under 20 while the U.S. dollar is 32 points lower at 89.68. COMEX gold is down $1.40 after yesterday’s huge jump higher while crude oil futures are slightly higher. Corn March corn future...
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.