General Comments Good rains fell across many southern and central portions of Argentina overnight. Amounts varied mostly between 0.5-1.5 inches, although a few stations reported heavier totals. The rain system is moving northward and is spilling into southern Brazil. However, the amounts of rain have diminished as the system moves further to the north with many areas of Parana and RGDS to receive little more than half an inch.Unfortunately, this rain system does not signal the end of the drought. As we have noted previously, a drought does not mean the total absence of rainfall. Rather, a drought is a protracted period in which precipitation totals are significantly below average, and according to the most recent forecasts, the protracte...
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.