General Comments It was a quiet, low volume trading session the first half of the day, with wheat and corn generally lower and soybeans swinging back and forth from strength to minor weakness. The tenor of the markets changed at midmorning with a sharp increase in volume and strong rallies in old crop corn and soybean futures. It is going to be very wet next week across the Northern Plains and Corn Belt. What will next Monday's planting progress numbers show? Farmers have made amazing progress where they have been able to plant. It is a testament to the over-mechanization of the U.S. farm community. Corn planting last Monday was pegged at 28 percent complete. It is likely to be near 70 percent in Monday's report.The dollar index was supe...
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.