Grain and soy futures traded higher overnight. Support came from lower weekly crop condition ratings for corn, soybeans, and spring wheat and higher prices for Paris wheat futures. Additional support came from a general strengthening of world wheat and feed grain prices as the disappointing EU and Russian wheat harvests wind down. Soybean futures prices bounced off yesterday’s losses and were up around 9 cents at the close of the overnight session, while Chicago wheat was up a dime and corn futures added about 2 cents. Things changed during the day session. There was a movement to unwind long corn/wheat versus soybean spreads by those traders who put them on in the wake of the Chinese soybean tariff. Motivation for the spread unwindi...
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.