Note: WPI chief market analyst Matt Herrington is away on travel until 20 June. Agricultural commodity futures continue to be driven by the El Nino advisory and its associated weather. While some parts of the Corn Belt received some moisture this past weekend, too many areas were missed. And there is nothing in the forecast to produce confidence that the drought in the Midwest will be broken anytime soon. The outlook calls for disturbances that will produce some moisture across key north central production areas, but not enough to be called a slam dunk. U.S. Crop Progress ratings were released today and if USDA did not consider the disappointing precipitation over this past weekend, this is a crop in trouble. While crops are i...
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.