Corn and wheat turned higher on Tuesday while the soy complex sold off despite strength in palm oil futures. Rumors that the EPA will soon announce its biofuels mandates, including a report from Reuters citing unnamed sources, helped support corn and ethanol demand expectations while painting a more bearish picture for soyoil and soybean. Overall, however, trade was lackluster with funds and traders mostly adjusting positions heading into the December WASDE. The most excitement of the day was in lean hog futures, which posted triple-digit losses on position liquidation and rapidly deteriorating technical conditions. Outside markets were sharply higher as investors adopted a “risk on” attitude with increasing confirmation...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.