After yesterday’s news that Russia moved as many as 10,000 troops away from the Ukrainian border in Belarus, NATO commanders refuted it, saying they see no evidence of Russia backing down. That helped put a bid under the CBOT, though enthusiasm for adding a “war risk” premium back to wheat futures was decidedly lacking. It seems the market feels these rumors are overplayed without material escalations in the standoff. Another factor pressuring the wheat market is the fact that Ukrainian and other Black Sea traders note grain shipments from the region have so far been unhampered by Russian navy exercise. Until wheat and grain shipments from the Black Sea see material, adverse impacts, the futures market(s) is likely to igno...
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
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.