Corn and wheat were pulled along by the soy complex, although corn could build its own demand story from last week's ethanol production that averaged 937,000 barrels per day, up 44,000 barrels from the prior week. General Comments The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concluded its two-day October meeting today. The tone of its statement was generally optimistic about the U.S. economy. To no one's surprise, it announced it was ending its quantitative easing (QE) 3 bond-buying stimulus program this month. In its statement, the Fed cited improvement in the labor and job outlook and consumer spending, but it noted that inflation still was below its 2 percent target. It also said it planned to keep its fed funds interest...
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.