Welcome to summer! Led by soybeans, which eased about 6 cents lower, trading during the overnight session found prices with a lower bias. The grains were mostly lower also but did not stray far from Wednesday’s closes. On the trade front, the war of words continues. However, there is no sign of movement by either the U.S. or China nor indication of a return to the negotiating table. We doubt that there will be much chance for change until 6 July nears, the date when each will put tariffs worth $34 billion on a list of the other’s exports. Soy complex prices continued to sag during the day session, while grain prices firmed in generally quiet trade. Soybean futures finished down about 9 cents to a new two-year low close. Meal f...
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
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.