The CBOT posted a day of two-sided trade on Friday to end a week of choppy, two-sided trade. With the three-day weekend coming up, few traders were interested in extending positions or adding risk to portfolios, which limited trading volume and price action. Additionally, there was little fresh news to drive market action, except for Argentina’s continually worsening conditions and weather outlooks. That offered some support to corn and soybeans for the day, but this week’s lackluster export sales for both commodities limited gains. CBOT wheat futures seemed to find some stability heading into the three-day weekend while the KCBT market pushed 8 cents higher, despite pressure coming to the rail market for high-pro wheat. ...
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.