The November edition of the Purdue University/CME Ag Economy Barometer shows that November was the lowest index of the year to date at 116 – down 51 points from November 2020. The only sub-index to increase was the Farm Financial Performance Index; it was up 2 points to 106 in November, that’s 10 percent above its low reading of 2021 in June, and 22 percent below its high in April. Crop prices are strong but worries about input costs are a drag on the outlook. According to the report, In June, 44 percent of respondents said they expected input prices to rise from 0 to 4 percent, a rate of increase consistent with the last decade’s history. Inflation expectations started to shift in September with one-th...
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.