Markets have certainly poured over the corn, soybean and wheat 2012-13 supply and demand estimates that USDA released last Thursday. Not much has been said about the minor crops of barley, sorghum and oats. The likely reason is that these crops truly are "minor' these days – they simply don't attract much attention. Here are a few comments on these crops: Barley Northern plains farmers planted 3.3 million acres of barley this year compared to 2.6 million acres in 2011. There are two primary reasons for the renewed interest in barley. The first is that $7.00 or higher malting barley contracts were available last fall and many producers made the decision early to go with barley. The second reason is that the dry fall and spring across the...
What You Need to Know Today: Declining crop conditions ratings and shaky results from the Pro Farmer crop tour sent grains sharply higher on Tuesday. The Pro Farmer tour in Ohio pegged the state yield at 180.18 BPA, about 5.5 BPA below the tour’s 2025 estimate. Similarly, the Pro Farmer...
Mediterranean/Middle East/North Africa/Africa – MEA Region Egypt is the largest importer of Brazilian maize in the first six months of 2026. Egypt imported about 28.4 percent of maize exports, or about 1.7 million MT. Iran was the third-largest importer at 14.5 percent, or 900,000 MT, fol...
Based on a Depression-era statute, President Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion of exports to the U.S., or about 5.2 percent of the $383 billion worth of goods the U.S. imported from Canada in 2025, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Of that total, about $39.3 billion was agricu...
From WPI Consulting
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.