General Comments Yesterday's Fed announcement that it would not cut back its monthly bond buying program at this time surprised many Fed watchers. Fed officials had been hinting for weeks that it might decide to start reducing it at the September Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The decision not to do so caught many analysts and traders leaning in the wrong direction. As we noted yesterday, grain and soy markets have been paying less attention to outside financial markets during recent months, and that seems unlikely to change at least in the medium term. However, the Fed's inaction on the quantitative easing (QE) program, and its reiteration that it was unlikely to raise interest rates in the foreseeable future, did add a...
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.