Overnight trade featured low volume and lower prices, including new contract lows for Chicago wheat. That theme carried over into the day session with soybeans the loss leader. Outside markets provided no help to the grains or soy complex today. General Comments There is a flood of chatter from the Pro Farmer crop tour, which found corn yield prospects better than last year in Indiana but worse in Nebraska. Soybean pod counts were up in both states versus a year ago. Crop yield bookmakers are now quoting odds that the USDA/NASS national average corn yield will fall 2-3 bushels/acre and the soybean yield will increase slightly in next month’s WASDE, which will be released 12 September. With the U.S. corn and soybean crops maturing faster t...
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.