Yesterday, the Independence Day holiday, was a key milestone of the summer driving season. Driving mileage typically increases in the summer season from Memorial Day through Labor Day, with the greatest driving increase occurring between 4 July and Labor Day. Starting this week, U.S. retail gasoline prices averaged $3.50 per gallon on Monday, 1 July, which is an increase of 14 cents from a year ago. However, average gasoline prices for the first half of this year are eight cents below average prices during the same period last year. This summer's increased driving season will not match past years' if it goes as projected by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA). The demand for fuel is starting below the 2...
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.