World Perspectives

Latest Economic Data’s Relevance to Farm Economy Outlook

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points this week, for the third time in a row.  The new target for the federal funds rate is now 1.5 to 1.75 percent, which was what the equity markets were hoping for.   Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes hit intraday records today, catalyzed by the October jobs and payroll report released this morning. Payrolls contracted in October but not as much as in previous months’ reports, nor nearly as much as the pre-report expectations. Non-farm payroll increased 128,000 in October; the pre-report expectation was 85,000. This increase was despite the GM strike that took 42,000 jobs off the October monthly report.   Probably more important, however, was the c...

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Please note that Ag Perspectives will not be published tomorrow, Friday, 4 July in observance of the Fourth of July holiday in the U.S. We will resume our normal report schedule on Monday 7 July...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.37/bushel, up $0.035 from yesterday's close.  Sep 25 Wheat closed at $5.5675/bushel, down $0.0725 from yesterday's close.  Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.4925/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $292.2/short ton, up $1.4 fr...

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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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