In just a few days, the calendar will turn to February. This is the time when U.S. row crop farmers begin to get serious about spring planting intentions. As usual, the key decision for many is how much of their land should be devoted to corn and how much to soybeans. A number of them have a rotational plan that has some or perhaps all of that land alternating annually between those two crops. However, most farmers, especially those with larger operations, have some land they consider as discretionary. Each year, they determine what crop to plant there based on the best net return per acre, and the decision is usually between soybeans and corn. Farmers like to make spring planting decisions in February when most seed varieties, fertilizers...
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.