Tuesday’s surprise (but not entirely unexpected) decline in U.S. corn and soybean conditions ratings, in tandem with more Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports, sent the CBOT sharply higher overnight. KCBT wheat was the only market, however, to maintain most of its strength with CBOT wheat, corn, and soybeans all paring gains heading into the close. For the summer crops, traders are betting the timing of the recent U.S. heat and dryness will mitigate yield losses and that the coming two weeks of favorable weather could help offset some of the effects. Pre-WASDE positioning is also ongoing with few willing to significantly expand risk before the September report, coming out next Tuesday. Funds were net buyers across the board, however, an...
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.