The sowing of some key commodities is down, and the major crops affected include pulses, coarse cereals and corn. There are two reasons for this, and it will be difficult at this point to expand the planted areas. Sowing Lags; Rain Shortfall Affects Key Commodities Two reasons why the sowing of some key commodities is lagging are the lower prices last season and less rainfall over the crop areas. The major crops affected include pulses like pigeon pea (arhar), down 18.68 percent against last year; coarse cereals such as sorghum, down 12.31 percent; corn, down 6.38 percent; and finger millet, down 35.57 percent. The sowing of oilseed crops is also behind by 9.85 percent, and those most impacted are peanuts, down 13.12 percent; soybeans, do...
What You Need to Know Today: The U.S. weather forecast has shifted to favor more beneficial conditions for finishing the corn and soybean crops, which is removing some weather risk premium from futures. Traders are looking ahead to Friday’s September WASDE, which will offer major insight...
Key Takeaways: Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling would provide consumers with more consistent information about where their beef originates, but evidence from the previous COOL rule found little indication that labeling increased overall consumer demand for beef. The primary potential benef...
The California General Assembly has passed a bill aimed at increasing transparency related to ultra-processed foods. California Governor Gavin Newsom has until 30 September to take action on the bill, though it will most likely be signed into law. Late last year, California became the first sta...
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.