U.S. soybean, corn and wheat markets finished the night session up 1-2 cents despite the U.S./China trade war becoming a reality overnight. However, the soybean and soymeal markets opened strong today and moved to big gains by midmorning, putting the trade issues behind for at least today. Corn and wheat traded slightly higher much of the session and, like soybeans, extended those gains in the last hour. USDA will release its updated production estimates and revised WASDE next Thursday. Trading volume was pretty good for a Friday in a holiday-shortened week. U.S. equity markets were also strong today despite the tariffs. Crude oil was firm, and the U.S. dollar was weaker. As the eight-14 day weather maps show (see below), the extended Cor...
Key Takeaways: The U.S. herd is stabilizing, but growth remains modest. Total goat inventory rose 1 percent in 2026, while meat-goat numbers increased 2 percent, which is not enough to materially reduce import dependence. Domestic slaughter is rising from a low base. Commercial slaughter incre...
What You Need to Know: U.S. fertilizer production is highly concentrated, but concentration alone does not establish that producers are operating as a cartel. Imports introduce competition unevenly: they supply nearly all U.S. potash consumption but play much smaller roles in domestic ammonia...
Given yesterday’s headlines, today’s market action may not be what many expected. The dollar is little changed, crude oil is pulling back and stocks are trading higher. Crude may be the biggest piece of today’s reversal. Saudi Arabia is offering additional crude to Asian buyer...
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.