With the September WASDE now past, the CBOT largely entered consolidation mode on Tuesday with a renewed focus on weather as yields are finalized, export demand, and, of yeah, inflation. August inflation was down from July but above expectations, which threw macroeconomic markets into a tizzy and sent the U.S. dollar screaming higher. The dollar’s rally pushed November soybeans to form a reversal on the charts and kept corn from advancing above the $7.00 level. Wheat managed to post slight gains for the day, with support coming from a shaky outlook for Ukraine’s exports and dry planting conditions in the Plains. The theme of the September WASDE was lower production and ending stocks for corn and soybeans, a fact that should keep...
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.