General Comments Markets were weak the first half of the Sunday evening session but turned slightly higher when Europe went to work. Strength in French wheat markets was based on more concerns about cold weather across Europe and much of the Black Sea region, making wheat the price leader today. The agreement between Greece and it creditors over further austerity measures is still "just around the corner." The failure to see an agreement has again prompted talk of a Greek default. U.S. and European financial markets were slightly weaker. The dollar was very strong early but gradually faded throughout the session. Gold and crude oil were weaker.There wasn't much else to talk or write about today. Weather in South America still appears to...
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...
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.