USDA reportedly shocked the market by failing to cut U.S. planted corn acres by the amount expected and instead nipping more area out of soybeans. The agency says it will now reassess the situation in July. Still, the June Acreage report has historically not been too far off from the final amount. The actual field survey work of that report should make it more reliable than the survey-based March Prospective Plantings report, but it depends on one’s bias. Over the past seven U.S. crop seasons, the March report has on average overestimated corn acreage by 0.194 percent, whereas the June report underestimated the final output by -0.338 percent. Nevertheless, the June report is considered a relatively reliable predictor of the actual fi...
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.