The CBOT was mostly lower to close the 2023 calendar year, a fitting end to a year that saw deeply bearish price action across the grain markets. Since the first day of trading in 2023, the spot corn market has fallen 23 percent, soybeans are down 7.5 percent, CBOT wheat lost 22.7 percent, and the KCBT wheat futures fell 25.6 percent. The cattle complex posted the best gains for the year - thanks largely to the rallies to new record highs in live and feeder cattle futures - and the spot live cattle market is up 10.7 percent from 3 January 2023 while feeder cattle gained 21.7 percent. Lean hog futures could not join the cattle market’s rally and fell 20.1 percent for the year. So, despite its excitement and short-lived rallies,...
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) enters its mandated six-year review on 1 July. The original intent of the review is outlined in Article 34.7, which obligates members to: Provide recommendations and decide on appropriate actions. Extend the USMCA for another 16 years and meet aga...
Key Market Insights Geopolitical Limbo: Geopolitical risk remained a key driver across global commodity markets today. President Trump stated that the Iran memorandum of understanding is not yet final and warned that military action could resume if negotiations fail. Both sides continue w...
Key Takeaways: Drought remains a major threat to global agricultural production, particularly in regions with limited rainfall and growing water scarcity. Commercially available drought-tolerant traits in corn, soybeans, and wheat have generally delivered modest yield improvements, limiting th...
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.