General Comments Grain and soy markets have plenty of things to chew on these days. On the macro side there is the on again-off again-on again Greek debt relief and bailout saga which, like a Homeric poem, seems never-ending. Then there is the so-called U.S. fiscal cliff that threaten a U.S. economic slowdown if not another recession. When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid commented today that congressional and White House negotiators were making no progress on a solution to avoid falling off the cliff, U.S. stock markets immediately tumbled.Aside from outside macro matters, grain and soy markets are generating issues of their own to worry traders. Perhaps the most immediate issue concerns the soybean oil futures markets in which funds h...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Key Takeaways: Argentina is on pace for a record corn crop and record exports in the current marketing year, with abundant supplies likely to keep the country highly competitive in global export markets. Argentina’s record exportable surplus is allowing it to offer highly competitive pri...
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.