Short covering was the CBOT’s theme of the day with nearly all ag markets closing higher. Slow crop maturity progress and the inability to conclude spring wheat harvest were major justifications for the day’s rally. Moreover, the weather is deteriorating quickly for parts of the U.S. Midwest, to the detriment of the corn and soybean crops. Over the next two days, a winter storm will slip south from Montana into the northwestern Plains states, bringing with it freezing temperatures and possible snow. Thursday brings the greatest chances of snow for significant crop-producing areas, with over half of the Dakotas and a third of Nebraska having a 50 percent chance or greater of receiving 1” or more of snow. Fortunately, 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.