The market's reputation for producing a volatile reaction to USDA March stocks and plantings report was well-maintained today. General Comments After a long period during which fresh inputs were limited, markets finally got what they were waiting for at noon (EDT) today – the highly anticipated USDA report on 1 March quarterly stocks and prospective plantings. However, the report did not quite show what many analysts expected it to. Quarterly corn stocks were more than 100 million bushels higher than anticipated. Prospective corn plantings dropped to 89.2 million acres, about 1.4 million less than 2014 corn acreage but more than many analysts expected. The combination of larger stocks and larger acreage than expected immediately put the c...
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.