Nearly all of us who watch and trade in commodity futures markets eventually develop an opinion about the direction prices will take. These are called futures markets with good reason, and they are conveniently constructed in a way that allows traders to express their opinions accordingly.Nearly all of us who watch and trade in commodity futures markets eventually develop some sort of opinion about the direction prices will take. These are called futures markets with good reason, and they are conveniently constructed in a way that allows traders to express their opinions accordingly. Some of us form our views by closely studying the fundamental balance between supply and demand for specific commodities and the factors that might affect that...
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.