Cattle and hog futures are lodged in massive bullish uptrends that seem to have no end in sight. All three major livestock contracts posted fresh contract highs this afternoon with open interest and trading volume rising as well. In contrast, the grain markets chopped sideways with the day’s largest gains coming from wheat. Dry conditions in the U.S. Plains are threatening the HRW crop and a historically tight wheat-corn spread is adding to wheat’s bullish outlook. Corn futures chopped higher on Wednesday while the soy complex reversed course and ended lower, mostly due to soyoil weakness. Funds are thought to have bought 8,000 contracts of corn and 6,000 contracts of wheat while selling 5,000 contracts of soybeans and 6,000 con...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
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.