Ethanol use is up, but so are COVID-19 cases in several U.S. states and cities. Wall Street plunged on Thursday envisioning a renewed lockdown on the economy, but Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin pushed back saying, “we can’t shut down the economy again.” Echoing that view, various government officials at the state level concerned about the loss of jobs also rejected any new lockdowns. Officials are arguing that lockdowns are too damaging and that they are now better prepared for handling the virus. This is good news for ethanol and thus corn demand. At this juncture, Americans do not want to take public transportation and they don’t want to get on airplanes. Highways are rapidly resuming congestion. There are incre...
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.