High prices of pulses, the main vegetable protein for Indians, have led to higher wholesale and retail inflation. This has prompted GOI to enact certain measures to address this problem. Dry Weather Conditions to Impact Corn and Soybean Production As India’s monsoon is starting to retreat, it appears that the accompanying rains are currently 5 percent deficit. An Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) report suggests that the rainfall in September, the last 30 days of the four-month rainy season, could be 15 percent deficient as the La Nina weather system did not develop. The dry weather conditions could decrease the yields of kharif crops that are at maturity and will soon be ready for harvest. Low soil moisture could also impact the sow...
The corn and soy complex closed higher, with the wheat market mixed, as winter wheat closed up but spring wheat and livestock ended lower. Part of the strength for corn and soybeans may have been a weather premium, as crop planting has started out fast but warm weather has been slow to develop...
Reflect for a moment on what you eat. There is a lot of advice out there in the ether about what you should eat, but really, what do you currently eat and how much? The good people at the USDA have some data for you, to help you answer that question. USDA says that we eat quite a bit of meat. L...
WPI recently completed an expansion of our methodology for estimating and forecasting U.S. and global soybean crushing margins. The new approach incorporates the energy market’s expanding influence on the oilseed sector and the structural changes in global biofuel demand. This report is i...
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.