The CBOT ended sharply higher on Friday afternoon with corn, soybeans, wheat, and soyoil all posting new contract highs. Early trade was muted/lower as USDA’s confirmation of 1.36 MMT of corn sold to China elicited a “sell the fact” response. Chinese purchases have been rumored all week and USDA’s announcement was expected and did little to bolster markets. China is thought to have also secured 3-4 MMT earlier this week, of which some is coming from the Gulf during October-November and some in December-January from the PNW. Chinese demand remains robust and places greater reliance on U.S. new crop supplies amid the Brazilian safrinha crop’s plight. Moreover, China’s aggressive new crop import pace runs co...
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.