General Comments The Thursday evening session traded higher the first half of the session and then shifted lower the last half of the session. There is another round of rain showers in the forecast for Argentina from Sunday through Tuesday. Crude oil was also down more than $2 a barrel. The dollar was basically neutral today and financial markets were strong in Asia, weak in Europe and mixed in the U.S. The weekly USDA export sales report was supportive today with wheat, corn and soybean export sales all at or exceeding expectations. China was a buyer of corn and soybeans. China's markets are closed next week for the Lunar New Year holiday.Trading volume today was described as moderate, but watching it gave you the impressi...
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.