General Comments The markets today repeated the pattern of the past several sessions. They were all firm overnight led by 12- to 14-cent gains in soybeans, but were trading lower by the time the open outcry session opened. Trading volume actually appeared to be somewhat better than yesterday's. This morning's weekly Export Sales report showed much better-than-expected wheat sales, but disappointing corn and soybean export sales.The fiscal cliff fiasco continues to play out in Washington. The key parties apparently will meet later today. Financial markets were lower all day, reflecting the lack of confidence that anything meaningful will get done. Crude oil was unchanged today and the dollar was fractionally higher.The Mississippi River m...
Yesterday, Alberta held a referendum on whether to begin the process toward independence from Canada. With more than one million votes counted as of early Tuesday morning, around 77 percent supported remaining in Canada, and 23 percent voted to start the process of separation, according to unof...
Mediterranean/Middle East/North Africa/Africa – MEA Region Pakistan’s smaller wheat farmers have been holding protests to complain about the lack of a support price for wheat and the potential expansion of GMO crop production. They also want the reinstatement of PASSCO, the governme...
What You Need to Know Today: Harvest pressure in the U.S. sent corn and soybeans lower as supplies increased and there were signs USDA’s upward revisions to yields in the October WASDE could be close to right. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated over the weekend, with Ukrai...
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.