The CBOT was mostly higher heading into the three-day holiday weekend with dryness and drought concerns for the Corn Belt pushing corn futures higher and helping create spillover support for wheat. Soybeans finally got in on this week’s upside action as well, though the day’s trade was quiet and seemed mostly a function of short covering and position liquidation heading into the weekend. There was little fresh news and traders were mostly focused on the weather outlook and export prospects for the major markets. Funds were net buyers in corn, soybeans, and soymeal for the day but were flat wheat and soyoil. The weekly CFTC report offered a bit of a surprise is it showed funds still aggressively liquidating corn, wheat, and soy...
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.
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...