Grain and soy prices, be they futures prices, cash basis levels or a combination of both, are tied closely to crop prospects as viewed by those who trade futures and buy and sell actual grain, soybeans and soy products. This is obvious, yet we think it deserves repeating just now. One might argue that saying crop prices are tied to crop prospects is an over-simplification, and that crop prices are equally tied to demand for crops. That is also true, but there is usually also a timing factor involved. When it is late July in the U.S. and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, markets and therefore prices tend to focus more closely on crop production prospects. After all, winter wheat harvest is underway with spring wheat harvest still to com...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Key Takeaways: Argentina is on pace for a record corn crop and record exports in the current marketing year, with abundant supplies likely to keep the country highly competitive in global export markets. Argentina’s record exportable surplus is allowing it to offer highly competitive pri...
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.