China has record stocks of unpalatable rice, rancid vegetable oil, tainted wheat and moldy corn, and Beijing is trying to square how to make the surpluses disappear without driving down market prices. Ethanol’s Role China has record stocks of unpalatable rice, rancid vegetable oil, tainted wheat and moldy corn. Beijing is trying to square how to make the surpluses disappear without driving down market prices. The answer is to extract the energy value into ethanol. Meanwhile, India is reportedly shifting to a direct payment system instead of providing cotton farmers with a price floor; China should consider the same approach if it is to avoid adding on to its excess food stocks. Pattern of Trouble Big Ag is bashed by populist foodies in...
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.