Even though Brazilian soybeans may be $0.80 or more cheaper than U.S. soybeans, the Chinese are going to be reluctant to switch unless they feel confident about their prospects at Brazilian ports after last year's experience. General Comments Stock averages closed mixed and with only small changes as the latest corporate earnings reports failed to provide a spark. However, NYMEX crude oil futures settled up $1.76 at $96.73, the highest close so far in 2014. This occurred as the southern end of the Keystone Pipeline between Oklahoma storage facilities and Texas Gulf refineries opened today and began to draw on oil stocks from the Cushing, OK futures pricing point. The U.S. dollar index closed slightly lower along with copper.China's econom...
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...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.