The CBOT turned lower with just two days before the January WASDE and Grain Stocks report after export prospects dimed following more terrorist attacks in the Red Sea. U.S. and British naval forces shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by Iranian-backed, Yemeni Houthi rebels on Tuesday in what the British Defense Secretary said was the largest attack so far by the group in the region. The continued turmoil in the Red Sea is compounding grain export challenges for U.S. shippers, who already face the effective blockage of the Panama Canal. With exports effectively restricted and sentenced to taking the long way around via the Cape of Good Hope, futures are heading lower trying to buy demand and stimulate some international interest. That has...
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.