World Perspectives

Farm Financials Ending 2023, Entering 2024

The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate four times in 2023 for a cumulative rate hike of 100 basis points, though it left rates unchanged in September and November. Higher borrowing and carrying costs have been the new normal in agriculture, a shift that will linger to some degree for the next several years. Indeed, the forecast from the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri forecasts interest expenses in 2024 to be $12.8 billion more than what the cost of capital to producers was in 2021. It's easy to forget that the federal funds rate was at a 0 to 0.25 percent at the end of 2021, before the Fed started to raise rates in Q1 2022.   According to the USDA’s Economic R...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.2875/bushel, down $0.065 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.355/bushel, down $0.1925 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $11.075/bushel, down $0.2675 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $312.7/short ton, down $...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Corrections Lower, and Maybe Yet Lower

There was a “show me the money” attitude in today’s trading as caution replaced yesterday’s enthusiasm in both ag markets and on Wall Street. Let’s count the many sources of hesitation. Soybeans, meal, and wheat have all been overbought with high RSI’s. ...

livestock

Livestock Roundup: U.S. and Global Beef Markets

USDA confirmed last Friday, 31 October, that despite the shutdown several key reports will be issued, including the November Cattle on Feed report, scheduled for 21 November.  There will be no data from the October report, but that information could be available through the month-to-month...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.2875/bushel, down $0.065 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.355/bushel, down $0.1925 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $11.075/bushel, down $0.2675 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $312.7/short ton, down $...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Corrections Lower, and Maybe Yet Lower

There was a “show me the money” attitude in today’s trading as caution replaced yesterday’s enthusiasm in both ag markets and on Wall Street. Let’s count the many sources of hesitation. Soybeans, meal, and wheat have all been overbought with high RSI’s. ...

livestock

Livestock Roundup: U.S. and Global Beef Markets

USDA confirmed last Friday, 31 October, that despite the shutdown several key reports will be issued, including the November Cattle on Feed report, scheduled for 21 November.  There will be no data from the October report, but that information could be available through the month-to-month...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds

Historic Trends in USDA’s November Crop Production Report

Heading into next week’s (mercifully) planned USDA Crop Production and WASDE reports, a key focus of the markets has been forecasting the agency’s yield numbers.  Over the past five years, USDA has exhibited a tendency to reduce its forecast of the corn and soybean yield, harve...

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From WPI Consulting

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.

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