The extremely wild gyrations in U.S. equity markets are a good indication that no one knows where the U.S./China trade dispute is headed as well as a sign that it is the rest of the economy that overshadows agricultural concerns. It has been nearly a week since the Trump/Xi dinner in Argentina, and the markets are all still surrounded by confusion over what really took place and what might happen next. China has made no move to eliminate or reduce the soybean import tariff, and it has not purchased any U.S. commodities despite the chatter that it agreed to buy “significant” quantities. There was some mid-week talk about big tonnages of wheat, corn and soybeans, but not even those rumors were strong enough to move markets. Last...
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.