A swirl of rumors about possible new trade actions against China from the Trump administration provided a backdrop for today’s grain and soy futures markets. During overnight trade, those rumors at first seemed to limit volume and keep prices from moving much in any direction. Corn was mostly unchanged with the May contract stuck in a 1.5 cent trading range. Soybean prices were up slightly, and winter wheat prices were down a little with light volume all around. However, price action picked up some as the day session developed. Midway through the day session, soy complex futures prices began to sink amid more talk of possible sanctions and tariffs being applied to $60 billion worth of U.S. imports from China. Soybean futures prices f...
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.