General Comments There is not much to say about today's grain and soy markets except that wheat reacted to bearish numbers, and the other markets reacted to wheat. Outside influences were mixed and had no impact today. Stocks closed higher with the Dow up 79 points on faint signs of progress in avoiding the cliff, the dollar index was lower, and crude oil rose a modest $0.23. The Fed's FOMC starts a two-day meeting today from which no changes are expected.The 50-million-bushel cut in USDA's estimate of U.S. wheat exports for 2012/13 and the resulting increase in ending wheat supplies came as something of a surprise to long-leaning funds apparently, and they took it as a signal to bail out or at least reduce long positions. As we note bel...
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.