In advance of USDA’s winter wheat acreage report on Friday, WPI has prepared early forecasts of 2018/19 crop planted area for the U.S. Given current market dynamics, it comes as no surprise that our research finds corn acres will increase at the expense of soybeans. Wheat area will increase slightly and take some area formerly occupied by soybeans, while cotton and barley area will decrease. WPI’s methodology used seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) models to estimate each crop’s acreage while accounting for relationships between each crop (e.g., tradeoffs between corn and soybean area). Variables included in the model were harvest contract futures prices, cash prices for each crop, the ratio of various crop prices...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. and Chinese officials are expected to discuss agriculture and non-tariff trade barriers ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month, potentially opening the door to additional U.S. agricultural purchases or improved marke...
The U.S. will observe Labor Day on Monday, 7 September. U.S. markets and the WPI office will be closed that day. The next edition of Ag Perspectives will be published Tuesday, 8 September...
Key Takeaways: Drought and changes to the multi-year trend in cow slaughter and retention have the potential to dramatically alter beef trim supplies and pricing, and WPI specifically models three different drought scenarios for fall 2026. Based on our models, WPI expects 90 percent lean...
From WPI Consulting
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.