The U.S. wheat futures market was reacting to a 4.50 euro decline in the spot Paris wheat futures contract after several days of price appreciation. The soybean futures price rally was sparked by forecasts of a return of temperatures reaching well above normal next week in the central U.S. General Comments The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s July meeting began today and will conclude Wednesday afternoon. There is no expectation of an interest rate hike, but Fed watchers expect the closing statement to contain a more upbeat view of the U.S. economy based on improvement for a number of economic markets, including housing, jobs and inflation. The Fed is likely to re-emphasize its expectation that rates will be raised sometime this year. The next...
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.